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[Ohana]

Okay so I know I started a trip report while I was at DLP but I thought I'd start a new topic and do it all properly from scratch. Thanks everyone for the tips, I tried chewing gum but it did not work, even the free gigglewater (wine) didn't help. Next time I'll invest in analgesia and some proper boiled sweets. Anyway...!

Hello all! As I sit here with a heavy heart dreaming of DLP, I thought now may be a good time to begin my trip report! Not sure how long it will take to get it completed but I will hopefully finish it soon as I want to write it all with everything fresh in my memory.  This trip report will also include a haul with some descriptions, if anyone wants to know more info or has any questions just let me know and I'll answer as best I can. Small disclaimer, that I did actually go ridiculously mad buying things while there and spent an obscene amount of money, but I'd planned to do this since day 1 of booking so we saved long and hard for all of this stuff

As I mentioned in my pre trippy the cast was myself, Hayley, and my boyfriend, Tom, and we stayed at the Santa Fe hotel. I am going to start from the day before our trip began as it was quite an eventful one... and not in a good way, although it is quite amusing and the points will be revisited later in the report hehe.

So off we go, merrily on our way to Disneyland!

The day started on a relatively high note, excited for the following day
yet Tom had to go and buy his walking shoes still, and I went to buy some plasters in case of sore feet (I had made the very clever decision to spend my walking shoe money on cheshire cat vans shoes! After this, we went home and I made tuna paninis for my lunch, however in the process of slicing my second panini, I also sliced through my two smallest fingers on my left hand - cue screaming and crying, along with a lot of lightheadedness as I saw how bad the wound was. Tom bandaged it up with some kitchen roll and sellotape before we took a trip to the minor injuries unit - not what I'd had in mind the day before we went to Paris, but the lovely nurse glued me up (against my will) and sent
me on my way with a spare dressing and the advice of keeping it dry for at least 4 days - great! I knew how much of an almighty struggle I was going to have ahead of me what with the whole issue of personal hygeine and all, but this will crop up again a bit later into the report

Once we got home, I played some of my new fallout game before applying some cool burger bar themed false nails I'd bought especially for the trip. However, I'd never actually worn false nails before and they were very long - they felt absolutely awful and I kept cringing when two of them touched one another, however I decided to persevere and keep them on overnight as they cost a fair amount.



Sadly. when I woke up and it remained to be a several minute job to do simple tasks, I decided to remove them. Yet another bad move on my part, given that it actually took ages and we ended up leaving later than initially planned. Plus my fingers were cold and acetoney, and my nails were all scratched and unappealing, along with having a big dressing on my hand. I looked a real state, but I didn't care - we were en route to Disney!

NB: still trying to add photos, no idea how to, I want to put them within the post not as attatchments but the images directly from facebook are too large they look silly, if anyone could help me it'd be greatly appreciated

[moopmoop93]

Gigglewater? I've never heard wine called that before, I love it! Haha! Xx

[SwipatronSparks]

try uploading your pics to somewhere like photobucket (which is what i use) or flickr (which i know other posters use) and copying from there =]

[Ohana]

Thanks guys, I will do this. I was going to embed my images in the trip report but it looks as though they'll be too big and it'll look silly, so I'll just post them all at the end of it!

So let's begin!

Tuesday 17th November - It'sfinally here!
So after months and months (basically a lifetime) of waiting, we'd finally made it to the big day, and despite recent awful goings on, we weren't going to let it stop us going on our trip. After my aforementioned faffing around with my nails, a bit of last minute packing, and going back for forgotten luggage, we were finally on the motorway around 9am. We weren't due to fly until 1420 but due to the M62 being notorious for accidents and delays, we decided to leave earlier to ensure we'd actually get to the airport on time! We'd parked up in the very busy carpark by around 11am and watched some planes take off as we waited for our shuttle bus to take us to our terminal. I was very excited about this as I'd never seen (nor heard - wow!) a plane take off before. Our shuttle bus arrived just as it started to rain. Once at the airport we checked in. The lady was quite abrupt, it seemed like she had forgotten/didn't realise that there are people in this world who've never flown, and will therefore get confused by the process. Nevertheless we checked in successfully and our bags were way below the weight limit. We wandered around for a bit, but got bored pretty quickly, with only a cafe and a Spar to keep us busy. We managed to get through security, which was very awkward as we had a lot of electronics in our bags, and hadn't actually packed our liquids and creams etc into plastic bags! I got a bit irked with Tom as he went off to pack his one single bag whilst I was left with three trays of stuff, fumbling around while everyone else kept leaning over me to get their stuff.

Once we got to the actual terminal, I was rushing around like a kid in a sweetshop at duty free 'OH MY GOD £20 OFF DOM PERIGNON" - like I was ever going to buy it  I was also intrigued by the cinnamon baileys and the 2x litre bottlesfor £26 offer. Tom had to remind me that we actually had to buy stuff in Disneyland, and was therefore silly to go off buying loads in duty free. He then led me out of the shop in his desire for food. We ate pizza and had beere (Tom) and a mimosa (me) at an italian restaurant, whilst we checked in with the parents. After that we made about 3 trips to boots in total... 1. I need clear nail varnish (which I never even actually used!) 2. We need water! 3. Oh pooh, I forgot my dressings for my poorly hand! The woman behind the checkout found it very amusing, but Tom was rather embarassed haha! Time seemed to pass quite fast after that, and in no time we had boarded our plane. I ofcourse got the window seat! Taking off felt very bizarre to me, I tried to lean forward at one point and felt an overwhelming feeling of dizziness. On this flight we decided we really like airfrance, as they provided us with free drinks and a blondie each! I had wine, Tom had coke. (How can anyone pass up free wine! Hehe) I didn't get to drink my wine, however, as soon after we recieved our treats, the plane began to descend, and the pain kicked in. I have described this in a different post so won't go into it. Thankfully it wasn't too long until we were in Paris. It took ages to get through border control, but after that things went quite smoothly. We arrived at the same time as our suitcases, which was nice, and off we went to get the magic shuttle!

The people here weren't greatly helpful, and it took a while to find out whether the bus at the stop was actually ours - not to mention that they flagged up that thomas cook hadn't bothered to print us a return ticket - cheers! However we soon boarded the coach and the real excitement began! Sadly it was dark so we couldn't see much out of the windows - French roads aren't lit up like British roads are. After around 45 mins - 1 hour (took a bit longer due to it being rush hour) I noticed the Hollywood tower and Tom noticed the water tower! Cue extreme excitement. The next thing I'm going to describe, pulling up to Santa Fe hotel, brought a feeling that I can't actually put into words - the excitement, the awe. It looked beautiful all lit up, and this was supposed to be one of the least enticing hotels - I couldn't imagine how the rest of the parks looked!

Check in was empty and we walked straight to a server - a very friendly man with some brilliant pin badges. He  provided us with all of the information we needed, we picked our breakfast times, and then off we went to our room. Mater block 02412! About a 2 minute walk from the main building, but slightly closer to the route to the park. Brilliant! We were very impressed when we walked into our room - spacious, clean, nice theming. Loved the traffic cone lights! And so much storage space! I unpacked our bags and got everything all neat and tidy, we again checked in with our parents, I informed facebook that I had arrived (naturally), and off we went! It was around 7pm by the time we were sorted, and the parks were closed anyway, so we only had the Village at our disposal. But not before we went to check out our hotel shop! Whilst there I bought the essentials: ears, autograph book, pens, and the Santa Fe Hotel pin badge! We had a look at all the nice things on offer and I just wanted to buy out the whole shop! However I practiced restraint and we were soon walking into the park.

The walk itself was quite short, maybe 10 minutes? Website information had made it seem a lot longer - I suppose it depends on how fast you are able to walk/run (if you're REALLY excited!) The first major thing we saw was the panoramagique balloon in all it's glory, and beyond that, Cafe Mickey and the Earl of Sandwich. We put our bags through the scanners (a reassuring feature) and then made our way to Annette's. Tom refused to let me loose on the shops until we'd eaten. Annette's, and infact the whole village, were very empty, and so we were served very swiftly. Me and Tom both picked our burgers and chose some hash brown potato sticks on the side. The food more than exceeded our expectations! Whilst eating here we shared a very surreal but exciting feeling of 'oh my God, we're eating our tea in Disneyland Paris!' And also a song from Fallout 4 came on, which just excited me even more, I basically almost popped like a big excited balloon!

After tea, we went into the World of Disney, where I was in awe at all of the pretty things. I immediately snagged a duffy tsum tsum (on my ISO list for SO long!) and the lady pillow pal I had wanted for ages. I think I maybe got my tin of Donald sweets to take into the parks with me also! After this we made our way back to bed as Tom had been up since 4am and was subsequently shattered. I, on the other hand, was totally wired and couldn't get to sleep. I think I clocked about 5 hours in total, as thinking about the best day of my life the following day was providing too much stimulation for sleep! I even had to put on soothing sleep music on my tablet, which only had minimal effect!

And that concludes this section of my Trip Report. I will write up the next bit as soon as I get chance - it will take longer as there is SO much to write about!

EDIT: On a swift proof-read of this, I've noticed I referred to a cast member as a server. Do pardon my Disney-blasphemy!

[seraphelle]

Lovely report so far, eager to hear the rest and see your piccies 

[Lavi]

I just love your writing! Keep it coming!

I also have o tip for your ear pain while plane landing. My OB-GIN who os also a diver in his free time advised me, as I was pregnant and the pills were not very advisable. It was a great success and I haven't experience problems since. I don' know if my English is good enough to explaining but I' ll do my best:
1. Take a deep breath
2. While keeping the air in your lungs, close the nose with your hand
3. Push the air in your mouth until you fill something in your ears
4. Release the nose amd breath normally

Repeat 3-4 times and that's all. Do this after the plane start descending.

This way you help the pressure egalize between your inner and outer ear.

[Ohana]

Day 1 Photos!


Plane freebies, wow! This just keeps getting better!


Descending into Paris with the excellent AirFrance


Warm welcome from the wonderful CMs at Santa Fe hotel


Sheer excitement at seeing Panoramagique - the first sign we were officially in the Village


Don't think there has ever been a happier person to be in Annette's!


Annette's will forever hold a special place in my heart as being our first ever Disney meal


Matching hats!


As a massive Perry fan, I loved these. However I ended up getting Lady. These will be on my birthday shopping list for our trip in May!


I love the World of Disney so much, best shop ever! Except for the Emporium, Story Book Store, and ornament stores on Main Street and in the Village!

[/URL]
I already bought a lot on my first night!

[Ohana]

Gosh this is taking forever, I do apologise! I want to make my reports as good and detailed as possible so need to make sure I've got enough time to write them up. The issue of full time employment and Christmas preparation is making that quite difficult at the moment, haha!

But oh well, here at long last is Day 2 of my 5 day trip to DLP! And today we finally see the parks in all their glory, hoorah!

Day 2 - 18th November 2015 - First time in Parc Disneyland!

My first night at the Santa Fe, I hardly slept. I was far too excited to drop off, and once I did finally get to sleep, I awoke at 0530! I'd had about 5-6 hours sleep in total, as I had been so excited about what Wednesday had in store for me. At this point it still didn't feel fully real - it wasn't going to feel real until I'd walked onto Mainstreet!

So anyway, due to my duff hand, and a bit of soap in my eye, I ended up half flooding the bathroom in an attempt to wash my hair. Great start! We used all our towels drying up the mess and I had to dry my whole self with a little hand towel. Serves me right I guess! This put us about half an hour late for breakfast with us arriving around 0810. I was too excited and Tom too tired to be hungry, but we managed to guzzle down several cheese cubes and some pains each! I also discovered my love for minute maid apple juice, oh my gosh so good! We strolled into the park, getting a bit lost en route due to it looking much different in broad daylight. We finally arrived at the park at around 9am, and I was so excited, I completely forgot to even pick up a park map or guide! We went through the turnstiles and we had finally made it. All of my dreams were coming true! I admired the beautiful Merry Christmas sign before emerging onto Main Street USA, greeted by a huge, beautiful Christmas tree. I had a quick peek at the Castle, but my eyes veered towards Donald. I made a beeline towards him and made him my first meet of the day! Mickey and Minnie's queue was too big and I just had to get my first cuddle from the one and only Duck!

We then walked up the path heading towards the castle. The walk down Main Street on this particular day felt a lot different to every other day, I think because I didn't really know what everything looked like, so it was still all just like an illusion. I might have had a little bit of a cry on first seeing the castle in all her glory. We spent a while here taking photos, just admiring the sheer beauty of it all. I would also like to add that (for the only instance of our whole trip), it was sunny, with a clear, bright blue sky - it made for some stunning first photos of the castle and I can't even explain how grateful I am that my first glimpse of the Castle was in the most perfect circumstances possible!

Anyway! After we'd got our fill of the Castle, we decided to make our way into Fantasyland, for a bit of an explore, and our first ride. The queue for Peter Pan was about 15 minutes but we decided to wait in line and see what all the hype was about. I did enjoy this however I think the queue is far too long for how short the ride is in duration. We decided to make Dumbo our next ride, given as it's so iconic. I really enjoyed this, being able to take in the view of the park and just think to myself 'I really am here. I'm the luckiest person in the world.' Following this, Tom chose the curious labyrinth to explore, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, quite a nice long walk round attraction which brought out the kid in both of us, running around, hiding from one another, laughing when the other took a wrong turn. Chuckling at all the little models and quirkiness of it all. We were most amazed when we got to the castle and realised we could get an incredible view of the labyrinth from the highest point! I was also wearing my Cheshire Cat, which I found very apt I then went on the teacups, solo, as Tom hates anything that makes him dizzy. They were still amazing, and Tom got an amusing video of me having just the best time spinning around in my own teacup!

After all of this excitement, we stumbled across many CMs putting up ropes. I went over to enquire about this, realising I'd forgotten to get a park guide! It turned out we had about an hour until the Christmas parade, so we decided to have a wander around and make our way back to this area to watch the parade as we felt it was a nice place to stand (near Pizzeria Bella Notte and IASW). During this hour we trotted over to Discoveryland (which I'm highly tempted to say is my favourite land), where we saw Buzz was shut briefly, I assume for a malfunction. Instead we went on Orbitron. I actually really enjoyed this however that one cart is NOT big enough for two adults (one tall and one wide, hehe!) we were fidgeting a lot, and we got a bit irked at the kids who literally jumped into the cart before we'd even finished getting off. However I plan to go on this alone in May to reconcile with it, as going up really high on it seems like a lot of fun!

After this excitement and pain, we saw Buzz was open, and decided to go on. I didn't have high expectations for this as I'm not right good at aiming and shooting in video games - I heavily rely on the VATS (automated targeting system) in Fallout, so knew I'd fall flat on my face on this ride. And I was right! But it became one of our solid favourite, and our most visited attraction of the whole holiday! I loved the spinning, and Tom loved the shooting, so he aimed, I span. We made a great time, and got some epic photos! I loved this ride so much I've actually dreamed of it since returning home, haha!

After this, we caught Frozen: A Royal Welcome, before making our way to Fantasyland to watch our very first parade. I had a bit of a cry again at seeing all the characters on their parade, but loved it so much! I adore the songs so much in it, I heard them so much while in the parks, what with them being shown several times a day, me and Tom still sing Toyland, Toyland to eachother now, not sure if it's joy or insanity? Hehe! I think I even prefered this to Magic on Parade, I just thought it was amazing and the music was great, so addictive, I'm listening to it as I type this! Jingle bells, Jingle bells...

Anyway! After this, I caught a glimpse of Peter Pan, running along quite far away. I told Tom to just briskly walk behind me as I found myself running after him. I told myself I wouldn't react like this... but Peter Pan was #1 on my 'To Meet' list, after Donald Duck! Thankfully I caught him, and had a great interaction. Wasn't even bothered that I was the only grown up amongst little children, I felt like one of them myself! We then decided (much to Tom's delight) that we would take a trip to the Cable Car Bake Shop for a light refreshment - a muffin each and a really tasty bottle of coke. Leaving this delightful cafe, we stumbled across the arcades, which were beautiful to admire, and were filled with the beautiful aroma of chocolate. Yum! This then led us to the many shops on Main street, and I made a mental list of things I wanted to buy. A visit to the Storybook Store, where we saw our beloved Duffy, led us to a Marie meet and greet. I just had to, she looked so fuzzy, and her gorgeous bow! Felt very happy after this meet, and ready for another character experience, so we decided to make our way to Jack Skellington - another one atop my 'To Meet' list! Because we had about a half hour wait until he was doing his meets, we decided to try out Phantom Manor, this became another favourite of ours. I just love the theming in these rides, they're incredible! We then waited a good whole to meet Jack due to circumstances, however his interaction was the best yet. He asked where we had travelled from, he hadn't heard of Yorkshire, but was delighted to know that it was a horrible place. I also explained the function of a mobile phone to him, he found it very intriguing. Definitely one of the best interactions, I love being able to chat to them, it takes away some of the awkwardness.

Note: Gosh I've realised I'm rambling so much here! I didn't realise we did so much until I actually had to write it all down, crikey! Hope this is as enjoyable for everyone to read as it is for me to write and reminisce!

After this excitement, we took ourselves on a wander through Adventureland, we went on the Aladdin walkthrough, and tried on some hats at the kiosks. We took a photo of the Pirates boat, but didn't ride it today, as there was a certain Pooh bear that was waiting to be cuddled! I definitely think Pooh was my most awkward meet, as a bit of misunderstanding ended up in me going in too strong for a hug and whacking my head on his very hard, hollow head, haha! However all's well that ends well, as the photo is adorable, with him cuddling up to me!]

Soon after this, it was time for our reservation at Walt's. Much to Tom's delight! We got seated in the Fantasyland room, and the restaurant was just so much more stunning than we'd ever even anticipated! The food was awesome. Tom particularly enjoyed his! When the meal ended, we happened to find a mouse running around one of the dining rooms! Tom discreetly told one of the CM's so as not to make a scene. She looked very panicked that we'd noticed this, but lucky it was us and no one else, we just made a joke about it not being Mickey, and helped her find it. It didn't destroy our experience at all, it just made it that bit more fun! We had no doubt it was a well kept establishment, and felt absolutely no need to complain about it.

After we'd filled our bellies, we browsed the shops again, I bought a pin and a lanyard, and we went to find a place on Main Street for Magic on Parade. I definitely had a cry at this, it was magnificent. I loved how the characters would wave at you from atop their floats - I got my second wave from Buzz of the day and felt accomplished. And got a bit emotional at seeing my favourite princess, Snow White, with her prince! However the best bit of the show was obviously the Fab 5 and Friends float at the very end! An excellent way to ring in the dark sky, and get us ready for Dreams! But not before another trip to Discoveryland, which included another ride on Buzz, and our first ride on Space Mountain.

I didn't realise SM had loops at this point. Before visiting DLP, I hated rides with loop-de-loops, however I have come away from there much braver and loving them! The speed of SM as it hurtled us up the tunnel, then the awesome feeling of rushing through the universe with the cool space-themed music, was just the best feeling. I loved it so much and was laughing so much afterwards. Sadly, Tom was not amused, he'd liked it to begin with, but then ended up with a bit of minor mind (and neck) trauma after the ride. So had I, but it was so worth it! We then went on Star Tours, which I found hilarious and actually a lot more fun than I'd anticipated, I think it's really got potential if they make it into a 4D type experience! Sadly, this made Tom feel sick, and we had to locate him some water before Dreams.

We didn't get a decent place for Dreams, because we were quite late getting there, but it was stunning nontheless. I will never forget the applause of the crowd during the Silent Night section. It brought me to tears then and will continue to have the same effect everytime I think about in the future. It was at this point I really felt so lucky to be me; after a whole lifetime of waiting, I was actually stood infront of the castle on my second night in Disneyland, watching the beautiful fireworks. Quite literally a dream come true!

After all of this excitement, we went back off to the Village to browse shops again, I got an Earl of Sandwich, then we made our way back to the hotel bar for my first glowtini of the trip (I couldn't really contain my excitement about this, haha!)

And that concludes our first day at DLP. It was more magical than anyone could ever imagine, the best day of my entire life, and I still had 2 and a half left, how lucky was I!

(Photos to follow!)

[Ohana]

Day 2 Photos ... so excited to share these!











It was at this point I decided I would have to be forcibly removed from this magical place and I would definitely not be leaving without a little bit of a fuss, haha!



IMG]http://i1078.photobucket.com/albums/w492/hayley_marie7/Facebook/Disneyland%20Paris/12291722_1011654192219746_765054605649356635_o_zpsbmd8qlfi.jpg[/IMG]
So yes, I decided to take my shoe off for this shot, how Instagram of me! Haha!
























Jeepers! About to go on Space Mountain for the first time!






A great juxtaposition from the morning!


His n hers!


What happens when you ask your boyfriend to keep taking photos while he's trying to relax with his beer haha!


We also tried to go to the garage for some pop, but it was shut haha. At least we got this beautiful shot of the hotel, our very first view pulling up to the parks!

[BethKJ]

Your report is so interesting and well-written! All the details are great and fun to read about. It must be a ton of work to to such a detailed TR, but please keep going! I can hardly wait to read more about your wonderful trip!
Btw- your special "hidden Mickey" at Walt's made for a pretty funny story. And it sounds like you handled it with grace. I bet that CM was very grateful you were both so cool about it!

[seraphelle]

Brill report. I love your bag, and we have the same Maleficent tshirt 

[Lavi]

You're a great story teller! Thank you for continuing this!

[DisneyChris11]

Great detailed report, Love reading about your first experiences of the parks!

[Ohana]

Glad you're all enjoying it so far! I'm enjoying writing it, despite it taking forever and a day to complete haha!

So now for day 3! We managed to have a less eventful morning today, I didn't flood the shower, and we even made breakfast a tad earlier! I decided to include some croissants and pain au chocolat on my plate this morning, along with my gargantuan portion of cheese, and my new favourite minute maid apple juice.

We got to the park slightly earlier this morning, but the queues for character meets were still obscene, so we decided to not bother with that today. Instead we just went straight up main street to the beautiful castle to say good morning Disneyland! It was a bit rainy today, which sucked but didn't take the magic away. And infact we noticed that when the sky is darker, the castle actually glistens, so that was nice to see! While admiring the castle, we saw Chip and Dale acting silly, so we decided to join the queue to meet them, despite our vow 5 minutes earlier to abandon the EMH character meets for today!

The wait was well worth it, I had my best interaction to date. Chip pretended to run away with me while Dale stood with his head in his hands. I then had them both admiring my ears and running off with them. I even got hugs! My only complaint with the whole character meet situation, is the inattentiveness of the photographers - during key moments such as hugs, and silliness, they're busy talking to the CM stood with them.. thankfully I had Tom taking photos on my phone, but they can miss a lot of happy memories by not bothering to take photos, and it irked me quite a bit! Nevertheless, I had some pretty 'posed' photos with the chipmunks, and I did still have the funny ones on my phone.

After this fun interaction, we decided to browse Main Street, and some of the shops that were open. We went into this lovely sweet shop, in which we found Mickey shaped cookies and marshmallows! I got Tom the chocolate coated Mickey biscuits and myself the coconut coated marshmallow - very yummy but I couldn't actually finish my marshmallow as it was so sweet. We put it back in my rucksack to eat later in the day. We then went back on Laser Blast, of course, and got an epic photo which we were very proud of! I then decided to brave SM2 alone, as Tom couldn't hack the dizziness. Due to a bit of a misunderstanding I ended up sat next to a random man, right at the front of the ride!! This was quite awkward and I was more nervous about this than the actual ride... but I still loved it! I got off feeling very dizzy.. and disappointed that the booths weren't open for the photos! Oh well!

I reported back to Tom and we had a chuckle about my little situation, and then meandered over to the Castle, which we hadn't yet properly explored! I was very impressed by the stained glass windows and found them very beautiful. However the highlight was climbing to the highest point of the castle and looking down at the rest of Fantasyland. The stairs were a bit scary though. I'm not a fan of stone/circular stairs so this was a bit of a nightmare haha! Still, this holiday seemed to be all about facing my fears so I didn't let it bother me.

We then explored a bit of Fantasyland, I was overwhelmed by the detail, I didn't know where to look! I had a photo with Cinderella's carriage and the sword in the stone, naturally, and we then went on Snow White! Such a beautiful ride, but seemed to follow the same format as Peter Pan.I enjoyed the content but it was far from my favourite ride. We then had a chuckle at the Toad Hall 'so very British' menu, with fish and chips and... chicken burgers?! Haha. Quintessentially British food right there, chicken burgers! Tom was very disappointed that it didn't serve toad in the hole. I was just still chuckling about the burgers.

Once we'd had our fill of Fantasyland, we decided to make the rainy plough down to the Studios. I was very excited about this as it was the one place I had not yet explored! I absolutely loved the first part - front lot is it called? The interior design was awesome, although we both felt that they could have made more effort with Restaurant En Coulisse - it's just one big dining hall with the same food kiosks throughout, whereas the exterior made it look like loads of different places. It has a lot of potential to offer people a range of different things rather than just the plain and boring. But hey ho!

The rain was getting a bit irritating, and a lot of the rides in the Studios seemed to be outdoorsy ones, or ones we couldn't find, haha! So we made a beeline for the studio tram tour, which Tom was really interested in. I like the fact that there are several buses running at once which makes the wait a lot shorter! We both enjoyed this tour a lot - especially the special features which we weren't expecting at all - and they explained why the far left of the seat was wet haha! I think my favourite part of this ride was the music. When the bus came to a halt briefly, I just sat there listening to the music thinking about how happy I was and how magical everything was. It was a great feeling.

After this ride we did a bit of shopping (again), where I spent a very long time deciding which hat I wanted. I ended up narrowing it down to a Beast hat and a beautiful fluffy Minnie ear Christmas hat - I ended up choosing the latter. Throughout the hat choosing, Tom was complaining of a rumbly in his tumbly. We pondered for a while over where to eat, but then decided it was necessary to try a Casey's hot dog. Sadly, so had many other people it seemed, and we ended up eating in one of the arcades as the seating area in the actual restaurant was totally full! Not to worry, we both thoroughly enjoyed our food, although I was more in it for the melted cheese than the actual hotdog hehe!

Once we'd filled our bellies with gross processed meat, we decided to wander over to Adventureland, where we ended up bumping into Chip and Dale for a second time. I was extremely happy and once again competed with a rabble of small children to get my photo with my two best mates! I was wondering if they were the same pair as before, as Chip tried to kidnap me again, haha! The whole experience was very fun, and I became their new biggest fan! I found it very nice, as before visiting DLP, I'll be honest I was never that interested in Chip and Dale.. and yet now after meeting them and having so much fun, they're my new favourites and I just want Chip and Dale everything! I love that just a simple positive interaction can have that much of an impact on someone

Anyway, enough cooing over my two loves, back to the days' events! Tom fancied POTC next, so we took a trip to that. We actually both really enjoyed this, and the look on our faces on the ride photos shows we really weren't expecting those drops! Definitely one of our favourites though, I think it's just such a lovely chilled out ride, and the sheer detail just amazes me.

After this, we made our way to Meet Mickey Mouse (eeeep!!!) taking some Skull Rock photos on the way. The queue inside this attraction was quite nice, I enjoyed the cartoon feature. Plus it was inside! A break from the rain! I spent my time in line touching up my makeup - no easy task with only dim lighting and a selfie cam as a mirror! I remember getting into the room and seeing Mickey, and I almost cried. It was amazing to finally meet The Boss, a lovely interaction. He admired my bag, and pointed it out to the CMS hehe. On leaving, we found that the dim lighting had caused the phone photos to be a bit blurry. It was at this point that we decided to purchase our Photopass Plus - heaps of thanks to the lovely CM at the till who explained it to us fully and patiently whilst we made up our minds!

Once we'd got our PP+, I decided I wanted to meet as many characters as possible to get my moneys worth haha! We tried Merida, but the queue was just too big, so we decided to go find Minnie instead. I thoroughly enjoyed this interaction, she was just so lovely! We had quite a long interaction with Minnie actually, which was nice. I especially love the fact that she pulled Tom in for a pic. We got the most darling photo with her, which I will share with you all after this section of writing is finished! We then went to admire some Duffys again, but still decided to not buy one, and instead made our way back to the studios. The rain had calmed down a bit by now, and we had chance to take some more photos. We then went onto Crush's coaster, which ,despite the wait, was AMAZING. Probably one of my favourite rides, so much spinny fun! We then went on Ratatouille, which only had a ten minute wait! Another brilliant ride which I loved, but I did have higher expectations following the hype, which it didn't quite meet. I did love Place De Remy though. It looked beautiful in the evening sky!

Tom was quite tired by this point, and I went on Slinky Dog alone, as Tom couldn't hack anymore rides. I quite enjoyed this on my own, just having a moment or two to be alone with my own happy Disneyland thoughts, another moment where I thought how lucky I was. I really liked this ride, nice and cute, with lovely music playing. Definitely will be going on this again. Everything was closing up by this point, so we made the executive decision to go and grab a drink in the Village before our character buffet, rather than watching Dreams again - this was Tom's request, and whilst I was reluctant at first, I'm glad we did. I got a bit merry on my glowtinis, and we had a lovely time just chilling at a bar in Disneyland - this was probably one of the most 'realistic' things we did whilst we were there, and it actually just amplified the magic.

It got to about ten past 8, and we decided to make our way back to the DLH for our Inventions reservation. On arrival, I was quite annoyed at myself as I found that the table was booked for 8pm! However we were still given our table, thankfully! We both really enjoyed this meal, although both for separate reasons. Tom loved the food, I loved the characters... though the food was nice too. However I'm a picky eater, a bit like a child, so I ended up just eating hash browns and cheese pasta.. and the puddings! Whereas Tom enjoyed everything. When there, we met: Gepetto, Pinnocchio, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Eeyore, Pluto. I'll list some of the best parts of the meal:
- Eeyore locking himself in a cupboard with my pen, then getting told off, before having a mirror selfie with me.
- Group photo with Goofy and Tigger
- Gepetto handing out sweets to everyone, and a group pic with him and Minnie.
- Hugging Goofy. So tall!
- The lovely couple next to us who offered us a slice of their Vacherin cake - yummy! And that's coming from someone who doesn't even like ice cream that much!

We left the buffet with full tummies, big shining smiley faces, and a looong walk ahead of us back to bed. Both of us were very tired at this point! However this did not stop me from popping into the hotel shop to sniff the DLH room spray - lovely but decided to give it a miss at 60 euros a bottle. Might get it myself as a birthday treat in May haha!

And that concludes day 3! Nearly there now haha! Photos will come later in the day

[DisneyChris11]

Amazing how the little things have such a big impact. I remember having a really good interaction with Pinocchio in magic on parade and now I'm a big fan! 
Toad Hole's britishness was very funny to us too.
Seems like you had a great time.