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[Nala_84]

Day 1: Sunday, 30th November 2008

First of all: During this first day I really thought: ,,Oh no, this will bet he most disappointing DLRP trip ever for me"... I was really in a bad mood, like a lunatic child, everything came together: The bad weather during the drive, so that we arrived about 1,5 hours later than planned, the WDS was so crowded, the weather was bad etc. But fortunately, we learned to get used to the situation at the end of the day !
But let's start with the beginning, or begin with the start, hehe:

We had a very short night of just 4 hours, got up at 2 am and left around 3.30 am. We went by car, Marc as my "Night Rider" was very motivated, as always. First everything was allright, but when we arrived at Belgium, the weather turned badly, it snowed so much (which was a nice winter wonderland for me to watch) that the streets were covered with snow, and Marc could only drive very slowly and carefully. So instead of arriving at DLRP at 8.30, we arrived at the Sequoia Lodge parking lot close to 10 am – I began to turn moody !

After checking in and getting our tickets, we took the shuttle bus to start our first Disney day at Walt Disney Studios Park! At around 10.20 – more than an our later than I planned, and so it was clearly that Chrush's queue was way too long already. So we went to the Place des Stars to catch "Merry Christmas WDS". I thought I'd be able to get a photo taken with the characters in front of their sets, but instead they stepped off the scenes and all the characters were suddenly surrounded by children and adults. Well, another disappointment for me, but at least I got a photo with Goofy taken, although I would have imagined it to be more organized and less chaotic !





So after this photo, we decided to see Armageddon: Special Effects as it's rumoured to replace this attraction, and even the pre-show was much fun this time ! Then we went to catch an English show of Stitch: Live!, which would be our first time to see it. And: we really loooved it! It was so funny that I cried some tears in the end lol! It was so cute and the children had so much fun! F.e. there was a little Dutch girl called Beatrix, and Stitch understood "Matrix?! Well... strange name... but never mind!"... So funny!

When we went out of the show building, we walked around and reckoned that not only the weather was getting worse – it began to rain, but such a fine, drizzly rain – the crowds got bigger aswell, waiting time for ToT was now 60 mins and Crush's Coaster 90 minutes, so Marc took his moody and annoyed little girlfriend by the hand and convinced her to have a little break in the Studio 1. He got us two yummy hot chocolates which were great after staying in the cold winter rain, plus two incredible super-chocolate-muffins. Yummy! When Saskia gets chocolate, she's happy !







So my mood was a bit better and although my planning was so much different, we decided to return to the hotel earlier, explore it a bit and take a few photos.

















Then we had a little rest in our room which we went to at 3 pm. It was such a comfortable room with all the dark furnish, it fitted so much to the cold outside! It was the first time ever for us at the Sequoia Lodge, we loved this hotel! We fetched the rest of our bags from the car and then I told Marc he could enjoy a little "power-napping", while I unpacked our stuff.







I was still pretty disappointed that we couldn't have done more than 2 attractions and that the weather was so bad, but I knew that I couldn't change that anymore.  
After a bit more than an hour, I woke up Marc and we went back to the shuttle bus station to go to the Disneyland Park now.
It was already after 5pm and the parade was running, so we decided to go through the Liberty Arcade into the back of the park as it was still raining. As the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't long, we decided to put that ride first, it was much fun as always ! We strolled around through Fantasyland and Belle's Christmas Village, but the programme was "true": There were no Belle and Beast to meet'n'greet throughout our whole trip which was so sad!!!







We then went to Main Street to finally have a quick dinner. We went to Market House Deli for the first time and had ourselves a very yummy Mushroom Croque Monsieur.



After eating we discovered that it was already a bit too late to get a good place for watching the Enchanted Candleabration, and it still was raining, but we found a little space to watch it anyways. I didn't take any pictures of it because we stood too far away and it rained, but it was so lovely and when "Chante, c'est Noel" was played, a few tears ran down my cheeks. It was so magical! The castle looked so unbelievable as it maybe only can during Christmas Season! So we took a few photos of the castle after the show:




We then went back to the Discovery Arcade and wanted to have a cappuccino, as always, at the Cable Car Bake Shop. But we had to find out that the cappuccino was sold out everywhere, so we had another hot chocolate instead and were seated in the Arcade.



As my socks were soaking wet and it was pretty cold and still raining, we decided not to watch Fantillusion that night and went back to our hotel room. I had a wonderful warm bath and we got to bed around 10.30 pm, were we fell asleep quickly and dreamed of the first nice - even if not perfect as always - Disney day.

[ColdSun]

sorry to hear that you had a few setbacks but all-in-all it still seems like you enjoyed yourselves. And those pictures are truly magical, just wow :shock: !!!

[dagobert]

Great trip report so far and very nice pics. Christmas season is indeed a magical time at DLRP. We have been there for four days over New Year two years ago, the weather was also bad and the parks were very crowded, but we tried to enjoy every minute.

How was the hotel? We are also planning to stay at the Sequoia Lodge during our next trip.

I know what you are talking about the characters, to get a photo with one is really impossible at DLRP, everybody is pushing and there is no castmember in sight. Pure chaos!! At WDW the situation is much better, because the castmembers made sure that everybody is lining up and so everybody got a picture.

Can't wait for the rest!

[never2old]

Great pictures Nala!!! I love the ones of the Castle, the one with the red trees and the one with the spotlights, they're amazing!!

The weather and the crowds were awful on Sunday, weren't they???

Looking forward to the rest of your report!! And lots more of your pictures!!

[The Butlin Boy]

Great report Nala, I'm sorry your trip didn't start off the best, but I'm glad it got better. I can't wait for the rest of your report

[Aveen2008]

Hey nala!

Loving the Trip report so far, can't wait to read more!

Did Belle or beast not come out at 11:30am at the meet and greet point on any of the days?? :shock: That's not really fair! I am glad you got your photo with goofy on the first day- i also noticed that tha characters were stepping away from the floats and it was very hard to get near them with the good morning WDS and the toom train!

The hotel looks lovely, i have never stayed there.
I love your photos of the castle, mine never came out right for some weird reason lol!

you look lovely!

Can't wait to read more!

Oh and by the way I always get a little grumpy when I get to Disneyland at the start, usually because i just want to do everything at once and i can't and i get frustrated with myself hehe!!

Aveen xxx

[Epcot_Boy]

=D>  =D>  Great stuff Nala........sorry to hear you were at bit glum with things in the beginning  but you showed that the parks have a great way of cheering us up and making everything in the World wonderful again.......thanks for taking the time to share with us =D>

Oh.........loved the castle pics...... :wink:

Epcot_Boy :santa:

[SophieD]

Loving the photos and trip report Nala!! Cannot wait to see more!!    

[bigrossco]

very nice report and love the pics as well

Wish I went there for xmas maybe next year...

[Nala_84]

Thank you very much for your nice comments, guys !!

dagobert, oh, so you didn't have good weather last year, too? It's a pity you never know it before, but you're right, if you learn how to cope with bad weather, you can enjoy DLRP then anyways !
I can tell you: We both loved the Sequoia Lodge!! We've also been to Santa Fe, Cheyenne and Newport Bay Club - and especially for a cold winter trip, the SL is just perfect, it has such a cosy atmosphere and for me as a nature fan it was a very good choice !

never2old, oh yes, the crowds and bad weather and Sunday really got me down. I knew that this wasn't Disney's fault, but I was so disappointed that we couldn't do that many things as I wanted... now I really know that 2 days are to less for a trip, you have to go 3 days at least I think!

Aveen, aw thank you  :oops: Hehe and I loved to read that you also become grumpy when you can't get everything at once at DLRP, I can feel so much with you :mrgreen:!
Well, maybe I had to ask a Castmember because I don't think we were at Belle's spot at 11.30, but everytime we were there, there was noone and no sign, too... and it wasn't mentioned in the programme ! So I thought Belle & Beast would pause for a few days, which got me really upset...

Epcot_Boy, yes you're right, the bad weather, the crowds and my bad mood weren't Disney's fault, and when I learned to get used to it, Disney and its magic could really cheer me up and make my trip more enjoyable ! That's what I love Disneyland the most for - you're just happy !

bigrosso, you should definitely try to visit during Christmas Season, if you don't mind the cold and maybe that drizzly cold rain we had, it is such a special time to visit!! I def. wanna go there once again during that time of the year !

[Javey74]

Great first day Trip Report Nala..  /

Pity about the weather, it does happen this way at time's.... I'd been in November and January and it rained on both occasions, not all the time mind..So we went in August once to try and get better weather, but it rained for about a day then aswell, though not as cold..  :roll:  :mrgreen:

Look forward to the rest of your Trip Report..

[bigrossco]

bigrosso, you should definitely try to visit during Christmas Season, if you don't mind the cold and maybe that drizzly cold rain we had, it is such a special time to visit!! I def. wanna go there once again during that time of the year !

thanks I am deff thinking of going durring xmas and Nala I live in Scotland so I am used to the cold and the rain

[Nala_84]

Thank you 2 !

bicrosso, okay so that's another situation, you must be accostumed to drizzly rain :mrgreen:

[bigrossco]

Hay Nala!

Sure am used to the Rain and the cold!

Just waiting for the snow to come here we did have a little bit of snow last week but wasnt very much