15th February- 19th February 2016

Started by DisneyGagaChick, February 20, 2016, 07:00:25 PM

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DisneyGagaChick

Hi guys!

I got back from the Happiest Place on Earth last night (after a two and a half delay  :-X) and I literally had the time of my life! I will try and do an extended report if I have time to!

Here is the first evening!

Monday 15th February 2016
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We left our house at 1pm for a pre journey meal and also to see some family before we left. We got to the airport and went through the FastTrack (Benefits of working in an airport, I guess!) and our flight departed at half past 5. After a short hour and a half, we landed in Charles De Gaulle Airport at roughly 5 past 8 and the first thing we were greeted by was a lovely 20 minute wait at the Border Force. Soon after, we met our transfer and got to our hotel for quarter past nine ish.

Seen as the holiday was my 21st birthday present off my Mum and Dad, they had upgraded to the Empire State Club. Check in went smoothly with us being shown how to use our meal plan, which rides we could use our VIP fastpasses on etc. The girl guided us around the floor and the lounge looked so peaceful!  :P

We opened our room and the first thing I was greeted by was a Frozen Happy Birthday Card and a Disneyland Paris mug, courtesy of the hotel!  :o ;D What a great way to start the holiday! We literally threw our bags to the floor and collapsed onto the bed, getting enough energy for our first day in the parks!


DisneyRon

A good start to the trip, looking forward to the rest of your report. :D

Karen101

Yay!! Fantastic start can't wait to read more

Komble

That's so nice that you got those little added extras from the hotel!

I look forward to reading about the rest of your trip :D

DisneyGagaChick

Tuesday 16th February!

On the morning of Tuesday 16th February, we were greeted by a lovely sunrise over the park & discovered we could see the castle & the Disneyland hotel from our room!

We woke up feeling fresh and went for our breakfast. The lounge was exceptionally quiet, there was only three/four families with us. Food was okay/average & kept under a light to keep the food warm. You could have unlimited hot/cold drinks. There was a variety of cereals to choose from too.

We made our way to the parks and noticed there was a major increase on security. People would get wand over with a hand held metal detector or get their bags x-rayed. Quite scary to see, but it's for peoples safety in the parks.

It was a beautiful sunny day but was zero degrees so we bundled up warm with two layers on  :P It was literally like a wonderful Disney day.. but cold! Our first ride was Space Mountain and we then walked around the main park and stopping off constantly for warm drinks, whilst looking at our vouchers to see which restaurants we could use them in.

I had a big 21 badge on along with a sash, so I had many people & Cast Members either wishing me a  happy birthday or singing happy birthday to me. Such a wonderful & cute little touch!

We used our first voucher at the Silver Spur Steakhouse.... and oh my god it was BEAUTIFUL! Soup was perfect, the steak was mouth-watering great and the Brownie sundae was beautiful! We had to wait a bit for our table so we headed over to the Phantom Manor. The restaurant was booming, but seen as it was half past 2, I can see why.

The remainder of our day was spent in the parks The queues were not too bad an since we had VIP Fastpass, we could use the Fastpass on the FP rides as many times as we wanted to.

At around half fiveish, we decided to leave the park because we had booked to see the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey & Friends! The show was sold out and we was placed in the blue section. The show was great as always with a lot of crowd interaction too. The show finished around 8pm (started at 6:30) and we made our way back to the hotel. We sat in the bar for a while and the cocktails were lovely. We decided to go back to the hotel room and we watched the news for a bit (The only english channel we could seem to get was either the BBC News or the outdated Top 10 Things to do in Disneyland Paris!)

Great start to the holiday!  ;D

DisneyGagaChick

Wednesday 17th February!

On our second full day at the parks, we decided to head over to the Walt Disney Studios! The weather was cloudy but still a bit cold. We wanted to watch the parade later plus we also had a meal booked at Cafe Mickey afterwards!

We made our way to the Studios and our first ride was The Tower Of Terror. We used our VIP Fastpass and made our way to the Fastpass queue. The bellhop who was working on the turnstiles (I think his name was Cedric) noticed my badge, wished me a happy birthday and said since it was my birthday I had a choice of going upper or lower. I decided to choose the upper floor (why not?). We were sent to the TV room (where the bellhop who was in the room gave me a fright!) and made our way to the lift. The girl was very enthusiastic about her job and before the ride began she wished me a "last" happy birthday.  :o :-* Still a great ride!

We made our way to the Rock N Roller Coaster & that was my favorite ride during our trip! Armageddon is still a good ride, but it could do with an update! Afterwards we watched the Motors, Stunt & Action! show- really enjoyed it. Great way to rest you legs for 45 minutes!

Crush's Coaster was a 90 minute wait, with the single ride being a 50 minute wait so we had decided to leave that for another day. We walked past Toy Story Land to see the big Buzz Lightyear statue and also to find our way to the Ratatouille area.

Ratatouille was a must since we hadn't been to the resort since they installed the attraction. We only had to wait about 10 minutes since we had VIP Fastpass (the normal wait was 100 minutes  :o). I can honestly say.. I was NOT impressed with the Ratatouille ride. I personally love the film and it is a close favorite of mine, but I did not enjoy the ride. Sorry! BUT I did thank the trackless rats were a good idea!

Since we had done all the rides we wanted to do in the Studios, we headed over to Disneyland Park! The park was slightly busier than it was on Tuesday and there was a few people filming in the parks, unsure as of why.

Soon it rolled onto 17:45 and the parade began! I think they could do with a better song and some more refurbished floats. I still enjoyed it and jumped around when a character interacted with me! Is it just me, or has the parade been made shorter?  ???

We had decided to stay in the parks for a bit as it seemed to die down a bit after the parade. The most time we had to wait was 10 minutes on Buzz Lightyear!

Seen as it was only 8 oclock, we decided to watch the Disney Dreams! for a bit. It seemed lovely from the view but we only watched the first 10 minutes because we had to go to Cafe Mickey for our meal.

Cafe Mickey was really busy, we had to wait about 20 minutes to be served and asked what we will be having to eat. There didn't seem to be many staff on. The character were hyper as always- when they spotted my badge, they would all lean over and give me a big hug. Our waiter was very friendly. Since mum and dad ordered me a cake, the waiter came over with an Ice Cream cake! Everyone sang happy birthday to me and applauded. I think m and dad got brain freeze because we ate it too quick seen as it was almost 10:45 and we wanted to get back to our room. We got to the hotel for about 5 to 11 and crashed down to our beds (as always!).

Another great magical day!

DisneyGagaChick

Thursday 18th February!

Helloo!!

Thursday 18th February was out last full Disney day.  :'( :'(

Seen as we had done all the attractions we had wanted to, we decided to have a bit of a lie in and just have a wonder around the parks. It was slightly colder today than it had been on the past two days. Breakfast was quiet as usual with only two/three families in the lounge.

We made it into the parks for about half 10 and went to the Disneyland Park first. The park seemed much quieter today then it had over the past two days and it had a bit of an effect- some of the FASTPASS systems would not be in use, some restaurants would be shut and some of the merchandise stands would be closed as well. Seen as we had the VIP Fastpass, we should've been able to use it.  ::)

Just as we walked to Frontierland, it started to SNOW!  :o ;D The fellow in the lounge had told us that they were expecting snow today- we didn't believe it at first but we did eventually  :P It wasn't sticky snow, it was only sleet. I was wearing a hoodie, two tops and leggings with my Disney vans so I was struggling a bit! My dad soon bought me a waterproof cape for 9 euros.

I had known about the new Forest of Enchantment show so we managed to make it in time to see the 11:40 show. They could do with removing those two trees in front of the stage because they kind of block the view. I thought the show was really good, a nice change. It was great to see them involve old films & new films. The Tarzan bit (I felt so sorry for him in just his little skirt and shoes!) was good but he didn't do his acrobatic thing in the air- I later learnt that it was due to the very cold weather. I really enjoyed the show.

It started to snow heavier so we decided to go on some rides that had an indoor queue. We went on Pinocchio and then Snow White. We walked around the park and stopped every now and then to have a hot drink.

My dad and I wanted to see the Disney!Dreams at night whilst mum and my brother wanted to go back to the hotel. We had our dinner at Annettes, which I thought was lovely food (I was stuffed to the max!) and very efficient service. Me and dad made our way over to the Studios. We wanted to go on the TOT and use our VIP Fastpass but the Fastpass was not in use and the queue time was half an hour. So we decided to go on the Rock N Roller Coaster (which was now using its Fastpass) and we went on it 3 times.After spending some time walking around the studios, we made our was over to the Disneyland Paris (which happened to be just after the parade has finished and many people seemed to be leaving) so the wait times were at least 5 minutes (even for the popular attractions!). Me and dad decided to go to the on Indiana Jones, POTC, Space Mountain to name a few.

It was soon half seven so we decided to make our way to the front of the castle and save our spot. Soon the msuic started and the lights dimmed. Disney!Dreams.. oh my gosh. I loved it! I got emotional at the end when they played The Second Star To The Right and the overall atmosphere was great. The way they used the lights on the castle & the fireworks was perfect. Everyone was smiling and seemed to be enjoying it.

After the fireworks ended, we all joined the crowds and made our way back to the hotel. I couldn't help but keep glancing back at the castle. It was our last full day in Disney. I was literally on cloud nine throughout my trip and couldn't stop smiling- and I was going back to reality the day after..

Safe to say, I did not want to leave.

Komble

Awwww, your trip report is reminding me of my trip.

You got some amazing queue times, very lucky! I would have chosen to watch dreams, too... It was so magical and no matter how much you tell yourself to not get emotional there's always that one point where you get a bit of a lump in your throat, haha!

DisneyGagaChick

Quote from: Komble on February 28, 2016, 01:45:57 PM
Awwww, your trip report is reminding me of my trip.

You got some amazing queue times, very lucky! I would have chosen to watch dreams, too... It was so magical and no matter how much you tell yourself to not get emotional there's always that one point where you get a bit of a lump in your throat, haha!

Aw cute, haha!

Yes we did decide to watch Dreamss, it wouldn't be a Disney holiday without watching the Disney fireworks! You should've watched it, it was so magical & enchanting!

I'll post the last day soon!

DisneyGagaChick

Friday 19th February!

Our last day in Disney  :'(

I was so shocked how fast the past few days had flew and was absolutely gutted to be going home, We decided to get up early and just walk around the parks until half three seen as we were getting picked up by our transfer at half four.
We had our last breakfast in the lounge before making our way to the parks.

The weather was sunny with no clouds in the sky but still below zero so we bundled up warm with a few layers on. We had been blessed with lovely weather during our stay.

We decided to go to the Studios and go on the Rock N Roll & ToT for the last time before making our way over to the  Disneyland Park. The parks were quiet today as well, like they had been the day before. We looked around the park surroundings before making our way to the Disneyland Park for the last time ever. (sob)

The Disneyland Park looked beautiful today (as always) but knowing today would be last day in Disneyland Paris for a while made me well up with tears. I would look at the castle and cry. Once again, I had my birthday badge on and was getting birthday wishes from everyone.

We made our way to Frontierland and we had a table booked for 12:30 so we decided to go to Phantom Manor. As we walked to the door, the person at the door said "Oo I've got a surprise for you birthday girl! What is your name?" I told him my name and he announced in English and French "Everyone listen up! This girl is named Alex, today is her birthday so lets celebrate!" And got everyone in the room to sing Bon Anniversaire to me, it was so cute! I was blushing like mad! :-[ I think Phantom Manor is one of the best rides in the resort.

The Silver Spur Steakhouse was exceptionally quiet compared to Tuesday, even at lunchtime! The food was still devine and mouth-wateringly good! The food has seriously improved at Disneyland Paris since we last visited!

We made our way around the parks and went on all the rides we wanted to. Our last ride was I think Pirates Of The Caribbean, which is one of our favourite rides! I noticed a few things different- there are normally two men sword fighting with a woman crying next to them (they were not there), a pirate was missing a big massive hat, the drunk pirate normally makes the barrels go up and down (they didn't) and the cats normally spin in a circle on the boxes (they didn't during our stay). Call me picky but I couldn't help but notice these little things missing/not working!

Soon it rolled onto half 3 and we had to leave the park  :'(. I couldn't help but keep glancing back at the castle. I admit, I did tear up a little bit. I was literally on cloud nine the minute I left the UK and now I was going back to reality.

Just as we were about to leave, the girl at the Empire State Club reception desk told us we had left something in our room so we waited by the concierge desk. The concierge noticed it was my birthday and he asked me "Who is your favorite Disney character?" I responded with Minnie Mouse. He told me to wait there a minute- and he came back soon after, said "Happy birthday" and gave me a small Minnie Mouse plush! I was over the moon!

Our transfer soon arrived and as we drove away, you could see the park. We go to the airport to be told we were delayed by two hours- I wish we could've spent more time in Disney.  :'(

I literally had the best birthday present ever, had the time of my life. And it all went too quick.

Here's to next time, Disneyland Paris!

Thank you for reading!!  :-* :-*

Lavi


DisneyGagaChick


DisneyGagaChick

Some pictures!



Free birthday gift!



View from our room!



WE'RE HERE!



Dinner at Silver Spur Steakhouse!



Cafe Mickey cake!



Disney Dreams!

2001DisneyFan

Hi, I could not agree with you anymore! Silver Spur Steakhouse is my favourite place to eat in the Parks.. I do have to say that the hotels could try and improve the Top 10 Things by maybe remaking the whole thing. It sounded like you had an awesome birthday!
2002-WDW
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2009-Hotel New York
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