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[Patrick]

Disneyland Paris, May 9th – 11th 2008

Day 1
What better way to start a Disney trip than an early morning coach journey, I started the trip at 00.45am and went to London, and the trip down was rather warm and smelly.  Then again since when were coach's luxury.  Met John (Peep) at 7am around London Kings Cross / St Pancras tube station and went for the cheap, cheerful and rather as usual sickening McDonald's breakfast.  After this delightful meal we made our way to St Pancras for our Disney eurostar.  The station from a certain angle seems to me anyway reminiscent of a certain section of Tower of Terror in Tokyo DisneySea, from what I have seen from photos anyway.

We made it to security about 50 minutes early, checked in and for the 3rd time since I have been getting the Eurostar to Disney I was stopped and asked if they may look in my bag, tired and frustrated I say yes.  Stand there for 10 minutes while this man goes through my entire bag, taking everything out and unlike the evil security at Waterloo; they even placed everything back into my bag.  Astonished we walk on to wait for the train; the Disney band definitely is a great thing to pass the time in the waiting area in St Pancras.  The Eurostar journey was stress free, and arrived at Disneyland on time; the bags then went into concierge at DLP.  Food was by now on our minds and off we went in search for it, Walt's was full so after some deciding Agrabah was chosen.  This being my second time here, I knew what to expect, but was surprised to see that all drinks are now included in the price.  The lunch was very nice as me and John both love Aladdin and the music, so sitting on stools, eating and hearing the complete Aladdin soundtrack was great.

Today the park was packed, after lunch pirates was the obvious choice.  The queue was 50 minutes, great to see Disneyland so popular lately.





Tarzan was decided by myself for next, after all the show is one of my favourites, even beating the likes of Legend of the Lion King to me, the actors as ever were all on full form.  I just begin to wonder how much longer this show can carry on for; after all it has been showing since 2000.  The only thing now starting to get to me was the heat, as here in England we never seem to have got much heat this year :wink:, so after the show we got an ice cream, which I only just realised, being so tired that perhaps you cannot eat in the queue line for Phantom, so we walked into the gate and got told off, so back to Main Street we went.  

After some shopping we got a place on Main Street for Ouadp, now this, I was hoping would have been a nice simple time watching a parade like usual.  How wrong I was, a very friendly guest flow cm, suddenly changed into a very rude one when the parade began.  Now I have no problem with them telling people they must stand up before it starts, but I have never had to before.  So he came and told everyone to stand up, most did, but there were children behind us so we would not stand up.  Not to mention the fact we had an annoying group of people next to us who seemed to try their hardest to get themselves into the front row.  As the parade began the people next to us got a lot more aggressive, trying to push their leg into John's side so he either fell over or stood up, however this didn't work and instead we just got a warning off the wonderful cm telling us that we shouldn't have our feet off the curb.  We then got shouted at in Spanish from the people and I do wonder if they thought I cared :roll:, amazingly I even took some decent photos of the parade during this rather silly argument.  Though after the parade finished, it showed that being kind is not dead, as a lady came over and said thank you to me and John for not standing up so their children could see :wink:.



















Now if anyone can name these random people, it will make my day  :?





By now the time was getting on a little, and the wonder of the Etap awaited, yes we are big spenders when it comes to accommodation :lol:, the hotel is what you would call, cheap, but not too awful, I have stayed in worse around the area, Citea at Bussy comes into mind.  We spent a while just sitting around the hotel, watching French stuff, including the dodgy Disney shows on the Disney Channel.  After having a shower and stuff, we headed out back to DLRP, for some dinner, of course Annette's being one of my favourites and being John's favourite restaurant we ate there, where the whole cornyness of the Village suddenly comes to life on an evening.  The whole cast suddenly start dancing out songs from Grease, it had to be one of the most random moments, as we knew it was coming, but so funny seeing the faces on guests who may not have a clue at what is going on at all.  

The night by now was starting to set in and it was too late to re-enter the dlp, so we had a walk around the village and the lake Disney, and ended the evening with a drink at the Sequioa Lodge.  And after as I decided it would be nicer to walk back to Val d'europe we walked the back way to the Etap for the night.

Day 2 coming soon.

[Soap]

Great read Pat, thanks for sharing

[The Butlin Boy]

Great report Pat, you've taken some really good photos. Unusual about the women on the Jungle Book float :-k I'm looking forward to the rest :mrgreen:

[never2old]

Great pictures!!

And great report... Looking forward to day 2!

[peep]

Nice TR so far Pat. The lady on the float really did baffle us for quite some time so if anyone can help us find out who she is that would be sweet

Lovely flattering pic there of moi, lol, the lady that shouted Spanish at us is actually standing behind me looking moody

Awesome pics though, should be interesting to read your report of day 2.

[Javey74]

Yeah, great report and photos so far Pat, and there's nothing like the usual parade squabbles is there  :lol: , looking forward to the rest.  /

[Flounder]

Great pics and report - we were there the same time so it's interesting to read what someone else is doing at the same time

Cheers,
Flounder

[Clarebelle]

Can't wait for day 2, your photos are excellent!!

p.s the lady on the float looks to me like Chantell from celebrity Big brother?? but I'm sure she has blonde hair

[Patrick]

Thank you for the comments, sorry this took so long, hope you enjoy it .

Trip report day 2

The day started rather early, as we both awoke and got ready, were even in the Disneyland Park by around 8am.  The first thing we did after entering was go to Space Mountain, this is rather a little tradition of mine to do this ride first, I know kind of sad.  But the music was working, shock, horror :lol:, and the majority of effects were even switched on.  I have to say this was one of my favourite rides I have had since the change in theme in 2005.

As even €5 for breakfast in the etap does not impress me a simple croissant and a bottle of nestea did me for breakfast from the bakery on main street.  Of course with Discoveryland starting to fill up even at 8.30 Fantasyland was done, where the wonders of spinny things and benches were to be had :lol:.  First off, the teacups, oh yes when someone steps into a teacup with me they come off feeling ill, this definitely happened when peep agreed to go on the cups with me.  Let's put it this way, by the end of the ride I had such a bad friction burn on my hand from all the spinning hehe.  Oddly we never did anything else in the land, instead deciding sitting on a bench around small world was an idea.

Peep on bench


Artistic shot of the teacups


The infamous bench


Le theatre du chateau


The rare occasion I have seen the omnibus


After a while the Studios were opening, walked straight in at 10am, where already crowds were well everywhere.  Tower fastpass was got, as already the queue was 40 minutes and "Good Morning Walt Disney Studios" was to begin at 10.30, sat around more on benches and the mini parade arrived, well the changes are rather drastic.  What can I say apart from hmm very different, the music is ok I suppose, though why did they have to choose "Remember the magic"?  Odd choice really, but the characters and cinefolies were as ever interactive to say the least :wink: .

Hollywood blvd




Good Morning WDS








Me with cruella


When we, or should I say I, was finished taking pics of the characters the tower fastpass time was here, the ride was as ever brilliant, Peep seemed to really enjoy it, though I still find it odd how the boiler room feels so cool.

I have to say the Studios really have come alive this spring season, as when we exited tower there was cinefolies in their Shooting Live, they definitely make it a lot more fun as its so much more open than the indoor, sometimes hard to stand and watch, Studio 1.  High school musical was performed very soon after, we watched and this year it was nice to see some changes, however I preferred some of last years cast personally, especially who played the geek, much more geekish.  Dinner was at Backlot Express next, well it was definitely busy, yet strangely not hectic, my mushroom sandwich thing (I have forgotten its name) was nice and even the salad didn't taste as frozen salad like as it usually does.

Cinefolies, running again




Place des Stars


Who would believe this is our studios?


Now this is how you applyu factor 50 suntan lotion, of course you end up looking like someone from Phantom Manor when done


Get ready for shooting!


Good Morning


C'est Kong


This is not how to wear a wig




And cut, that's a wrap!


Now for the attraction, I had used as my excuse to visit again, Stitch Live!, well what can I say apart from I love this little attraction. Before I went in I hated stitch and when I came out, suddenly I was amused and loved the little blue alien.  Have to say it is a great thing for Paris to have, I know not everyone even speaks the two languages, but oddly it didn't seem to distract people who didn't know any English to visit the English show.  Now just to sound like a topic that appeared a few weeks ago on this forum, I was disappointed with our next attraction, Rock n' Rollercoaster, there was so few lights working, a bit of smoke mind, though it was sad to see the ride in this state, oddly it even had the shortest queue.  Of course this didn't spoil the day, even though certain people do believe I moan too much :wink:.  

Tower again was done next, yes we did spend the whole day mostly at the Studios, the bellhops were amazing, in that they were all in character, one even went running through the queue line, never did quite figure out why, though ended up sitting with a girl on the stairs in the boiler room, for what I can assume because she looked lonely :lol:.

The second thing for why we visited was on its way next as High School Musical2 made its way along the parade route, they definitely did a brilliant job of making the float stand out compared to the original one and also the whole cast yet again made the show rather brilliant, especially it seemed for the girl in the centre who seemed to stare into our camcorders more times than it is normal to stare at people during a show it seemed.  Yes for us corny loving High School Musical fans these shows are amazing :lol:.

The one amazing thing about the new Walt Disney Studios area is a little seating in the shade, and so we took use of this out of the sun to apply yet more sun tan lotion, and of course a few photo taking opportunities.  Next up was animagique which was to begin 15 minutes later, as ever it was a great little show, and it was amazing how full the park was, at least what seemed like 50% of the people seemed to walk into the show and it still was not even 75% full when we got into the theatre.  Even though the exteriors may be rather bad to look at, the Imagineers definitely knew how to make the most of their theatre space in this park.  By the time the show ended, cinemagique had no more performances during the day and we had done everything else we wanted to, so we headed out of the park via the stores, a "little" shopping never hurt anyone.  I however didn't purchase anything as I was saving my money, though peep began his pin collection, now that will be interesting to see how much money in future trips goes on pins now :wink:.



Back over into the Disneyland Park we went and my god it was busy, then again Saturday and sunny day means busy in a disney park, the information board stated most things with long queues, apart from a attraction I once hated, but now love, It's a Small world, with its 5 minute queue, it was perfect, yes it definitely was a world of laughter.  After we ended up wandering taking photos around the area, or peep did anyway, I just wandered mostly.  We made our way over to Phantom Manor for a ride, which was as ever amazing, even if the cast member wasn't who was meant to lower the bars, instead he answered the telephone and let me do it myself lol.



What we did next was new to me, as I had only seen candleabration at night, however I now saw it during daylight hours, it was ok, though the candles didn't get lit and only a few streamers were let off instead.  I still love this little show and has to be my favourite part of the 15th anniversary.









For the final part of the evening we went looking for food, sadly walts was closing up, oddly 2 hours before park closing, catering at Disneyland Paris really do need to get their act together sometimes.  So we ended up outside the park and finally decided after some persuasion from me to eat at the Newport Bay Club, in the Cape Cod restaurant, as peep wasn't too interested in fish and we found rather a wide selection of foods available.  This buffet has gone down as one of my favourite restaurants in dlrp.  We must have spent about 2 hours here, mostly just taking in the atmosphere and admiring the view, we were seated right next to a window overlooking the lake Disney over to the Hotel New York .  Two little children outside even seemed to be fascinated with me and peep, they kept coming in front of the window and dancing around, of course as with every restaurant this nice meal was interrupted with Happy Birthday.  Oh my was it less than Happy some clever person decided we should listen to the song a little bit louder, as the speakers seemed to suddenly be turned on full volume, but apart from that the restaurant is very nice and I shall definitely dine here again in the future.



When we finally finished around 11pm, we had another walk back to the hotel, and that was the end of the 2nd day, 3rd day shall come along soon, don't worry hopefully not as long as it took me to get around to this day.

[Nala_84]

Thank you very much for the trip report and the pictures, Pat !

The pics of Candleabration are amazing, especially the Mickey one - fantastic!!  =D> Already curious to the next day report !

[The Butlin Boy]

Another great report and set of photos Pat, thanks for sharing them

[never2old]

Love the pics!!!  The one with Mickey during the Candleabration, with the sun behind him, it's really beautiful!!

thanks!!

[toonarmylass]

how much do i love that photo of mickey at the candlebrilation please could i pinch it off you to have on my desktop? your report is amazing!!!

[Patrick]

Wow, thanks everyone for the comments , toonarmylass, sure you can have a desktop sized version of the mickey photo , click below.

http://www.resortdreams.net/wallpapers/ ... sktop2.jpg

[toonarmylass]

thanks pat got it now,