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[seraphelle]

Good morning, Milestone 

From Disney village we can enter the other hotels without problem, but DLH is behind the park gates they have shut, so I think just extra security for that one from the village. When you drive past the hotels on the buses, all the gates are shut and only official buses are being allowed to pull on,  or I assume guests with reservations if driving themselves.
I'm not sure on the weather just now. From the window it looks grey and cloudy so it might be raining or it may do so soon xxx

[Mileto]

HAHAHA, Milestone! I like it so much! How did you come to this?

Good about the extra security, should be like this these days.
on the forecast I see a little bit rain today, but for tomorrow - 11-16 C and sun!

[seraphelle]

Oh my goodness I'm so sorry Mileto!!!  I am typing on my phone and it must have automatically changed what I typed!!   

I don't mind a bit of rain, it's not cold here really so rain is ok xx

[haribosmum]

I've loved reading your messages and have everything crossed the park opens as planned tomorrow and you all have an amazing few days of your trip xxx

[RockNRoller]

We travel out next week and although we had decided to still go it is very reassuring to read your reports. Firstly to see just how Disney is rising to the occasion and secondly to hear about the additional security. It has been great to read everything you have typed and I really hope when the parks open you are able to enjoy the time you have there. Thank you

[seraphelle]

Thanks folks, I would just hate for people to worry and obviously we're trying to stay as positive as possible for the girls.

Day 6

We tried again to get into DLH this morning but we're not allowed, the CM said it is guests only. We explained we had been allowed in last night for a drink in cafe fantasia and he said we should not have been permitted. After seeing photos on Instagram of all the princesses there yesterday the girls were upset. The CM was indifferent. This is the first time I have felt annoyed, so only the ones paying the premium get to see princesses?  That seems a bit harsh, but whatever, it won't break my spirit and I understand the need for tighter security.
Their seemed to be delays on trains today or some kind of regulation being enforced at Marne le vallee station, as lots of folks with suitcases were waiting outside. I have googled but cannot find anything online as to why.
We went to Newport bay and saw Aladdin. Then to Sequoia and saw Hook and White Rabbit. We had a quick Starbucks and are just having some lunch in the hotel before going swimming for the afternoon.
There is a heated towel rail in the bathroom in our apartment (thank goodness) so I am handwashing our delicates and managing to dry them 
Still keeping fingers crossed for parks opening tomorrow.

Bought a bottle of wine for this evening that I buy in England for £14 that cost me €4 in Auchan!!! The more I stay here the more I think us Brits get ripped off in our supermarkets!

It is a bit rainy today (fine rain, soaks you through  )  so do bring some waterproof stuff just in case xxx

[Domo]

Regarding the train delay, I've read on themeparkchannel.de (german site), that the station was evacuated due to an unattended suitcase.

Hope you can enjoy the rest of your vacation when the parks reopen tomorrow.

[seraphelle]

Thank you.

Well we've heard that the Parks will be open tomorrow from 10 (and emh from 8 in dlp), so we're all set for an early night now so we can get there during emh.

If you are visiting within the next few days and see us in the parks do say hello, I have short dark hair with a red streak in,  two blonde daughters and a tall skinny husband 

Be safe and enjoy yourselves  xxx

[Zee79]

So glad it is opening & you get to enjoy the parks before you leave. My daughters school has rearranged her trip for march now so she a little upset she is not able to visit at Christmas but happy she is still getting to go.

[cazspence]

Thank you.

Well we've heard that the Parks will be open tomorrow from 10 (and emh from 8 in dlp), so we're all set for an early night now so we can get there during emh.

If you are visiting within the next few days and see us in the parks do say hello, I have short dark hair with a red streak in,  two blonde daughters and a tall skinny husband 

Be safe and enjoy yourselves  xxx

I'll look out for you tomorrow, we in Sequioa lodge so will be in park for 8am hopefully. My son and husband will both be wearing thier Star Wars t shirts and darth Vader hoodies. I'm a hobbling ginger with a stick lol. 🙈

[Lavi]

How did the rest of your trip go?

[seraphelle]

I'm back at work today (booooo!!!!) but I will finish the trip report later and hopefully get some photos on. Thank you for you asking  We ended up having a lovely time and got home without issue. 

[seraphelle]

Day 7

Well on this morning we were up at around 7am after an early night the night before in preparation for going back into the parks. We ate our breakfast so fast it can only be described as being 'inhaled' rather than 'eaten' 

We walked to the Village (buses weren't running just yet and its literally 10-15 min walk to the Village from the Adagio, if that). We were nice and early and arrived during EMH, and our first stop was Peter Pan. I do love this ride  We couldn't believe how small the queues were even though it was EMH (little did we know they would stay this small through out the rest of our trip!).
Then we went and queued for Buzz, but it seemed to having some problems so we were let straight out the exit and asked to pop back later (fair enough). I guess with things being switched off for 4 days everything needed chance to get going properly again.
I got in the queue for Jedi Training academy tickets with the girls while hubby grabbed some fastpasses for Space Mountain for him and the eldest for later on. Then we switched and he got in queue and I went and got into the queue for Princess Pavillion tickets. Once we'd got our tickets sorted for the day, hubby and eldest went for their fastpass slot on Space Mountain, and the little one and me went on Autopia. I let her drive, much to her delight 
Afterwards it was time for the girls to return to the Videopolis / theatre to become Jedi with Dad watching jealously, and I waited outside to be let in to watch the show.
Once inside, we waited around 10 minutes and then the show began, and I watched my little girls turn into sabre-wielding jedi doing some swish swordplay, and they even got to 'use the force' to make R2D2 float. The show lasted about 15 minutes and it was a lot of fun for them and the audience. There were many excited (and jealous) Dads watching, I can tell you 

Following this, we grabbed a drink and went to watch the Frozen Royal Welcome again, and the Christmas Parade on Main Street shortly afterwards, singing our hearts out through the whole thing. We quickly ducked into Market House Deli as the last float went by to grab some hot food and drinks (it was starting to get nippy despite how bright blue the sky was!). We again inhaled our food, then took our hot drinks down to the castle stage to wait for Christmas Wishes.

I'm not ashamed to say I had a few tears in my eye when Belle came out with Prince Adam. This is my 3rd visit to DLP and the first time I had ever seen Belle, so me and the girls were very happy indeed. And hubby seemed a bit happy to see Jasmine, too, although I think for different reasons 

After the show, we headed for POTC which was a walk-on, and we yo-ho'd all the way round. I do enjoy this ride so much. And I always make one of the kids sit on the left for the splash 

Next it was Princess time, and we headed to Pavillion. We walked all the way to the top and there were only 2 people in front of us. The CM asked us who we had met before, and asked who we would like to meet again, thankfully, the kids said Aurora or Ariel, and it was Aurora  So they were very happy indeed. Aurora was lovely, and asked them lots of questions, and when they said that they had watched wishes earlier, she asked which princess danced the best, and they said 'you!', and she nodded knowingly lol, we did laugh 

When we left the Pavillion we went round to Casey Jnr and the boat ride (I will learn the name of this, promise) and then headed to see if we could meet Merida in Frontierland. There was quite a queue but we made it before the roped area was closed off and the girls got to chat with Merida for a bit and have some autographs and photos. She even did the accent which was cool.

I think we were all very paranoid about leaving anything out 'just in case', so next we headed to the Studios so Mommy could meet Spiderman (*swoon*). I was very well behaved and had nice photos with him, although I wish he was free with the hugs like Minnie  lol. Hubby then took the eldest on Rock n Roller Coaster which they both loved, and then we went round and walked on to Ratatouille. Yep, walked on. That's how quiet the parks were.

I was a bit dizzy after this one (the 3d effects, or Spiderman come-down?) so I sat with a coffee whilst Rob and the girls went on Crush (10 min queue). After that the little one insisted we all do Slinky Dog, so we headed in Playland which I do love as its getting dark with all the lights on, and we walked on to this too.

Afterwards we headed back into DLP ready for the Christmas Tree lighting, and that was fab. I got a bit of a tear in my eye at this bit, too, especially at one particular point. I won't spoil it for those of you going soon.
When this was over we ducked down through the arcade and walkway to Phantom Manor and walked on, then did POTC again (another walk on). We decided to head back to watch Dreams and got a great spot in Central Plaza a few minutes before it started. We had to move twice but there was plenty of room, because tall people holding phones in the air decided to come and stand in front of the kids twice (seriously, manners??) but it wasn't spoilt by these inconsiderate so-and-so's. When 'PEACE' lit up on the front of the castle everyone cheered and clapped and I burst into tears, people were hugging and shaking hands, it was something I will never forget. A beautiful moment that showed we were all united and they would not break us.

When Dreams finished everyone clapped and cheered again, and hubby and I decided via whispers as it was so quiet we'd try our luck at getting a table in Inventions. We were exhausted and needed a sit down so if not we would have a drink in Fantasia and then head somewhere else. We managed to get a table without problem, and boy am I glad we did. We saw Mickey, Donald, Tigger, Pluto, Geppetto, Goofy, but most importantly, Daisy Duck!

Daisy is a firm favourite of my youngest daughters and has been for some years now, she was even wearing a Daisy tshirt at the time. After a bit of a drama where it looked as though she was gone for the evening after only visiting a couple of tables, she came back after half an hour and we got to see her. My daughter burst into tears she was so overwhelmed and we explained to Daisy that she was her favourite (Daisy and Rapunzel are on most of her clothes lol) and she spent so much time and attention with her it was wonderful. She danced with her and gave her loads of cuddles, then fetched Donald so they could have a photo together. It was lovely.

After this we got the bus back to the Adagio and collapsed into bed. I'll try and include my fitbit steps in the photos, I well and truly had Disney Feet on this day!

[seraphelle]

Day 8

We woke up not so early today, as we were so exhausted from the day before. We got the bus around 9.30 into the village, and when we got to DLP we went straight for Santy Claws (aka Jack Skellington). There was a little queue already when we got there, and I wondered if the parks would be busier that day.
We had a great time with Jack as always (I forget how tall he is!), and then we headed to Phantom Manor (walk on). I can't explain how much I love this ride. It's just perfect.
Afterwards it was Pirates again (walk on), and then we decided to try Peter Pan (5 min queue), then we headed back towards the Chapparal Theatre for the Frozen singalong. On our way we walked on and did POTC again (any excuse!) and then went and sung our hearts out during the show. A CM came over with a microphone at one point and the girls got to sing into it a bit which they loved.
We decided to head to the Studios at the point as hubby wanted to watch the Moteurs show, but we walked the long way through Adventureland to see if there were any characters by Aladdins lamp, and I'm glad we did, as we saw Jafar and Abu! We then walked through the Aladdin area (does anybody else love miniature version of things? I go crazy for miniature things, especially houses, I desperately want to look inside the windows lol). We got to the Studios and in started raining hard, so I think we'd made a good decision to do the stunt show, it was nice to be out of it for a bit. We all really enjoyed the show, it was very cool. It was still wet and miserable as it finished, so we headed straight for Armageddon and the girls loved the special effects (we've since watched the film with them since we got home, the eldest sobbed with me at the end, but the youngest didn't bat an eye! Not sure she followed it all to be honest lol).
After this we saw an English Stitch Live was starting soon so went straight in for this, oh my gosh it was funny! My face hurt from laughing when we came out! It was not at all what I expected, and I'm still not sure how they did it, but our eldest was one of the ones he 'spoke' to, and as a huge Stitch fan this pleased her very much indeed. Although he did joke that her and a boy in the audience were boyfriend and girlfriend and she turned a shade of red that I've never seen on her before lol.
After this, we then walked right into Animagique. I've never bothered with the shows before but I loved this! It reminds me so much of a show I used to watch as a kid whenever we visited Blackpool that was full of blacklights and flying butterflies. Beautiful!
It was still soggy and miserable outside so we decided to skip Dreams that night and we went to Ludwigs and stuffed our faces with their delicious food (and beer, *hic*) and then we did a spot of shopping and got the bus back to the hotel.
We had done everything we wanted to do on this trip despite the lost time in the middle, so tomorrow was our last day and was a bonus for us to do whatever last few bits and bobs we wanted to. I packed the suitcases whilst the girls got ready for bed and we had a last game of Uno before bedtime.

[seraphelle]

Day 9


Well this was the day we were going home, and although I am always sad to leave Disney, I couldn't help but feel a little glad at the thought of being in my own bed and seeing my animals again.

I finished off the last few bits of packing, then we ate a very interesting breakfast consisting of most of the stuff we had left in the apartment lol, and we went and got the bus for the last time to the village with our cases. The buses were much busier this morning, so I figured the parks were on their way to getting back to normal with regard to numbers of visitors. It was very drizzley again this morning, so I'm glad I'd made the kids wear their boots today (not that I needed the space in the suitcases, not at all, ahem). We took the suitcases to Guest Storage, we left 2 suitcases and 2 hand luggage bags, and they let us leave the girls bags there for nothing (I thought AP holders only got 1 bag each for free), so we appreciated this a lot as it meant the kids weren't moaning about carrying their bags around for the last few hours.

We headed into the parks and mooched through the shops on our way to Buzz (walk on), then went to Star Tours (another walk-on). Then I went to the Christmas shop in the castle and bought a few decorations (the girls don't know yet but they have an Angel and a Daisy decoration each, and I got hubby a Cogsworth). We visited more stores in the courtyard and then we went on Snow White, then Pinocchio (5mins queues each), and round to Peter Pan (10min queue). I do love these rides but I wish Snow White was a little longer and included the part at the end of the story, because you seem to skip over the bit where she is woken up and she's just there smiling at you at the end.
After this it was POTC (would be rude not to as it was so close!), then down to Phantom Manor for the last ride of the day 'hurry back, hurry back'......don't you worry matey, I will.

We walked back the long way and went to see the dragon under the castle and the waterfall, the strolled back up main street. Frozen royal welcome had started so we waited and gave Anna and Elsa a last wave before leaving the park. We headed to Earls and got a hot sandwich and drinks and sat inside drying off a bit (it was really coming down again at this point). Then we popped back to Guest Storage and grabbed the bags and jumped in a taxi to the airport. We were going to get the TGV but it would have been more money than we had been quoted for a cab, so we opted for the cab.
This was a bit of an annoyance as he clearly tried to rip us off, so please be mindful of this and have your wits about you when travelling.  He quoted us 80 euros but then tried to charge us 110 when we got there, and Rob said he'd pressed the meter several times during the trip to make the cost tick up faster. I'd put 90 euros aside for the taxi + a tip for the driver, so when he tried to argue I said I only had 90 euros and he could take it or leave it and we could call a policeman to come and decide what we should do. He said 'OK' and took the 90 euros. If he'd not tried so blatantly, and it had come in at closer to 90 euros than 80 for the journey, I still would have tipped him, so by being dishonest he did himself out of some cash. Oh well. No skin off my nose lol.

We braced ourselves for a busy and long security check but once we'd dropped our bags we were whisked straight through and were into departures much earlier than expected.
I had a look in the fancy shops for a laugh, then bought some macaroons from Laduree for my amazing Mother in Law and best friend who had been animal and house sitting for us, then we had some coffee and cake and before we knew it it was time for boarding.

I'll be honest, I've never been so glad to see England. We had a fantastic trip in the end and Disney went above and beyond as far as I am concerned to try and keep the guests happy, but the relief that flooded through me once we landed and I knew we really were safe now was startling.

Saturday night, 24 hours after we got home, was the first time I was left alone. My husband was at work, and I got the kids off to bed and ran myself a nice bubblebath. And I sat in that bath and cried. All the fear and stress and all the emotions I'd been hiding with a brave face while we'd been away all came out and I flipping well let them. I felt so much better after, it was cathartic.

It hasn't put me off going there again, but its certainly put me off visiting the capital for the foreseeable future.
I'll add some photos later when I've uploaded them all. xx