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[Wendy]

Storms, Seats and the absent suitcase!   A Disney trip Report.

Saturday morning loomed with dark, ominous clouds threatening to dampen our departure from home.  However the rain held off while my husband loaded the car.  Once the kids were safely installed into their car seats we were ready to head off from Cornwall in England to the magic of DLRP.  Three minutes later we were driving back to the house having only managed to get to the end of the road before my husband realised that he had forgotten his hearing aid, and, although the thought of 10 days of not having to listen to me and the kids nattering on was quite appealing, reluctantly we went back to pick it up.  

By now the weather had closed in and the rain managed to follow us from Cornwall to Folkestone without reprieve. A terrible journey ensued with much stress, yelling and gesticulating for the next 5 ½ hours (and that was just from the back seats!)  

Eventually, calm was restored when we had a flawless check in for the Eurotunnel, and, by the time we drove onto French soil we were all very excited and in good spirits.  Our SatNav made the expedition to the magic an effortless affair and within 3 hours we were parking up in the Sequoia Lodge car park in high spirits and eager to relax after a long day.  Dusk was already closing in whilst we checked in and found our Montanna Room on the 5th Floor so while my husband and older son retrieved our belongings from the car, I tried to settle my 2 year old down for the night.  

Now, as you can imagine, holidaying with young children requires careful planning and packing.  Nappies, bottles, baby shampoo, swim nappies (the list goes on) so I had crammed all the toiletries for the kids and us in a separate smaller suitcase, along with other essentials such as medicines and a first aid kit 'just in case'.  Obviously, this was the most important piece of luggage and leaving it at home, neatly packed, on my bedside table was a bad idea, which is why that evening was not so much magical as gut-wrenchingly astounding that we could have overlooked such a fundamental item.  I mean, forgetting a toothbrush or travel plug is one thing, but a case full of essentials is  awe inspiringly ludicrous!  Needless to say, I blamed the husband, he blamed the wife and the children blamed us both!  Teeth and hair unbrushed we gave up and went to bed...

Put to the Test

This holiday was going to be special, not only because we were going to be the smelliest, unwashed family at DLP for the next 10 days (without our wash bags), but also because we had challenges to meet.  Inspired by these forums (especially  pussinboots), I had made a list of fun dares and tests for us to follow during our stay.  

1.   Find and photograph interesting seats in DLP.
2.   Find and photograph references to EuroDisney in the parks,
3.   Take a photo of an empty Main Street USA,
4.   Notice things that I had not seen before.

My family were up for the challenge, and being the competitive lunatics that they are, we soon set to work on our first challenge... Interesting seats...

(To be continued...)

[never2old]

Oh dear, sorry about your suitcase!!!

Looking forward to the rest of your report, great read so far!!

[tubbsy]

Been there! Done that! And I will put my hands up to it being completely my fault!  #-o Only for three days tho'. I bet people made lots of room for you in queues tho'....

I love the tasks you set yourself, looking forward to the rest of the report.

[Epcot_Boy]

3.   Take a photo of an empty Main Street USA,

Now you've really got me intrigued if you managed that one

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[Javey74]

3.   Take a photo of an empty Main Street USA,

Well it's possible, Kristof has done it...but I'm not sure if he'll tell you how..  :-# :lol:

Nice read, looking forward to Part 2.. /  /

[burntsienna]

Looking forwards to the rest of the trip report!

Sorry about what happened with your suitcase! Hope it didn't ruin your holiday!

[Pete's Dragon]

Sorry to hear about your forgotten suitcase. My son went crazy last visit cause we forgot his favourite book. :?  Can't wait to see the photos of an empty Main Street !

[ColdSun]

oh, so sorry about the suitcase...not a good start in a holiday. Looking forward to the rest of your report, I really like your style of writing .

[SophieD]

oh my!! i am sorry to hear about your forgotten hand luggage....i did the exact same thing the other year, i managed to forget my asthma inhaler and by the end of the holiday i could hardly breathe!!

i am looking forward to the rest of your trip report and seeing whether you managed to accomplish the tasks you set out!

[davewasbaloo]

Sorry you forgot the toiletries. I am sure nothing the concierge or trip to Auchan couldn't resolve quickly. But I am really enjoying your well written report and am looking forward to reading the rest.

[Wendy]

EMH – Early Morning Headaches!  

Breakfast at 7am French time is really 6am in the UK, so our croissants were a little bleary at that hour.  The boys wanted to try everything that the breakfast buffet had to offer including: cereal (all types), yogurts, fruit salad, toast, cheese chunks, pain au chocolate, another yogurt, bread rolls, and at least two croissants each with butter and jam!    After they had successfully stuffed themselves silly (and after the husband had also eaten enough to feed a small country) we managed to set out on the short(ish) walk to the park.  By this time it was 8am and we were running late so we decided to jog / run and power walk to make up the time.  

Fortunately the drizzle helped to cool us as we ambled along, rounding up the youngest explorer every so often, as he ran to point out and indeed sit on EVERY bench which we encountered!  (taking the challenge a little to literally I'm afraid, but you try explaining the definition of 'an interesting seat' as opposed to 'any seat you see' to an excited two year old!)   Finally we reached the parks and our adventure began...

Seat Spotting

After the sun came out we quickly began to search for 'interesting seats' here are some of my favourites that we found during our stay:



I love the themeing in Fantasyland and the benches did't let us down.  This sunshine seat opposite the Teacups was one of our favourites, with lovely paintwork on the arms as well as the backrest.

The benches in Discovery Land are more high-tech than the Fantasyland examples and come with a little D on the side.  Metal legs and wooden seats combine to create a pretty yet modern look.  The Boys also thought that the arches on either side of the D could be hidden Mickey ears?  

This is a lovely design of bench which we found on the way back to our hotel - I like the curves on the arms and the backrest.

This seat is one of my personal favourites.  Found in Adventureland, take a rest on a camel - it's just wonderful!
    Ever wondered where a princess has a rest during a particularly hot afternoon?  How about a beautiful stone seat which we found outside the Castle. How pretty and perfectly fitting in this setting.  I love the pink and grey contrast as well as the decorative engraving.  A seat worthy of a princess.
  Bella Notte has metal seats with twiddly bits as my kids so expertly pointed out.  Italianesque?

Aboriginal style wall paintings adorn the benches in Adventureland giving them a tribal and wild tone.  


Who can forget Mickey's highchairs! Available in every restaurant I've ever visited in the Magic!  

Supermarkets and Storms

Over the next couple of days we decided to take a visit to the Val de Europe and see if we could stock up on some much needed toiletries as we didn't really want to remortgage the house in order to buy everything at the Disney shops - which have, incidentally, become outrageously expensive!  We drove the short distance and were thrilled with the choice on offer.  Newly deodorised, we returned to the parks and continued with the fun.

The following day arrived with an explosion of thunder which woke us all even earlier than usual.  While the storm raged through the sky outside, our family huddled together and watched in awe.  More spectacular than any fireworks display, the lightening illuminated our room and filled us with a sense of dismay – was the day going to be a complete wash out?  



We tentatively went down for another mammoth breakfast and hoped that the rain would ease so that we could walk to the park without drowning!  Fortunately, by the time the family had made a rather large dent in the buffet, the clouds had parted and the sun was shining once more, glinting off the large puddles, which were all that remained of the morning's downpour.

An exploration of the Studios was our destination today and once we had successfully cleared the bag check and turnstiles we headed over for our first ever experience of Stitch Live!  What can I say but Wow! The adults Loved it, the boys loved it, we laughed and shouted and laughed some more.  A big thumbs up for this new attraction =D>  

Later that day, after we had spun on Cars, sung along to HSM2 and Animagique and flown over Agrabah, the weather took a turn for the worse once more.  Large dollops of rain thew themselves at the poor folks waiting patiently in the 90 minute Crusher's queue, whilst the rest of the guests fled for cover in Studio 1.  Thunder and lightening gave an impromtu display overhead for around 20 minutes while we cowered in the tightly packed shop, trying not to get too bumped and jostled by the other, slightly over-eagre shoppers (note to all - if there is a buggy in your way please don't crush the small child in it, in an attempt to inhabit the same space as said buggy and child, the parents tend to get irate and lose their sense of humour :evil: )  Once the weather, and our tempers, had calmed down we decided to take another stroll around the studios before heading back, another day over, another day ahead.  What would tomorrow bring?...

[ColdSun]

great update! And very nice pictures....the camel-bench is absolutely awesome ...

[MizzRabbit]

Ooh, I loved this post! I love when people notice details like seats! And very well written as well! Can't wait to read more!

I noticed this bench on my july trip. It's in Fantasyland and the details are gorgeous. There's also a pink version with female workers engraved on it. Didn't take a picture though:

[Epcot_Boy]

Seats, seats and more seats :lol:

An enjoyable read =D>

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[Aveen2008]

Great report wendy! Looking forward to reading more!!  /

sounds like you had many challenges to overcome with leaving behind the suitcase and then the weather but so far sounds like you managed everything well!...  =D>

  Aveen xxx