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[ColdSun]

so my January trip to DLRP is already over . My mom and I had a great time despite 2 major disappointments but I will write a detailed trip diary when I have more time and tell all about the great and not-so-great.
For now I leave you with 2 albums of pics I uploaded on Facebook. You should be able to see those even if you are not registered on Facebook. At least I hope it works...
Album 1:
//http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=241&id=297200004&l=77fee&ref=share
Album 2:
//http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=242&id=297200004&l=14eec&ref=share
Hope you enjoy ...

[Javey74]

Love the photo's ColdSun, especially the night ones.  I also like the Phantom Manor shot with the snow in the foreground and the moon up in the background, swell.. /  /

Looking forward to your trip diary report.. :wink:  

[Adam]

Great photo of the castle at night. Looks very cold over there, just like cold old Blighty!

[The Butlin Boy]

I love your pictures, especially the snowy ones. I'm glad you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing them

[Tubbyherman]

How fantastic to have 'real' snow whilst you were there   . Although I'm sure I would feel differently had I have been there  :wink: . Your photos are brilliant, I also love the one of the Castle at night time.

[never2old]

Thanks for those pictures! The park look really quiet!! Particularly during the EMH... Empty Main Street  :shock: ?

Looking forward to your report!

[ColdSun]

thanks for your kind comments, glad you liked the pics ... I'll now start the diary and update whenever I have time...

DAY 1 04.01.2009

I guess I don't really have to say that I was very excited. Our flight from Frankfurt left at 16:00, so my dad drove mom and me to the airport at 14:00. We were only travelling with hand luggage and already had checked in online and therefore way to early at the airport but hey, we just wanted to make sure not to miss the flight .
The flight itself was uneventful and so short. It was basically: starting-have a drink-landing...but I sure didn't mind that. We landed at Termial 1 and started our seach for the VEA bus. Even though there were some signs they didn't really lead us to our destination and the airport personnel seemed to be a bit uninformed. Thanks to the forum here I remembered that the actual bus to SLRP leaves at Terminal 2F so we decided to go there right away and took the airport shuttle. Once arrived at terminal 2F finding the bus was very easy and when we arrived at the departure gate there was just a bus boarding. we were thrilled because we thought we would only catch a later bus. So now we became really confident that we would still be able to visit the Disneyland Park and ride Pirates Of The Caribbean before it would close the next day. The bus was really crowded and the noise level was very high but we both were too excited ourselves to care. The drive went without any special occurances and soon we stopped in front of the Newport Bay Club hotel. It really looks impressive and the Christmas decorations gave it a special kind of magic. We had to stay seated for one more stop though: Sequoia Lodge. There we hoped out, got our suitcases and went to the reception. Everything worked fine, we received our tickets as well as the room key and our Halfboard Plus vouchers. Of course we also got to pick our breakfast times and ended up picking 7am for all 3 mornings. We had booked a Montana room so we didn't have to go outside again. Our room was very cosy and just like I had imagined but we basically just dropped our things off, put on some more warm clothes and headed off towards the Park. Walking past Hotel New York and through Disney Village it still felt very surreal to me that we were really there but once we entered the park and had our first glimpse of the beautifully illuminated castle the realization kicked it .
It was about 19:50 then, so plenty of time to go for POTC, so that's were we straight went. The queue was short as usual and soon we boarded our boat and took off. I still love the ride and it was a pity that it was only open for that 1 day of our trip because it's inside and therefore quite warm . But I also know it's good they work on it, the sword fight between the two pirates looked close to ridiculous, standing so far apart and all. But to my surprise the swinging pirate worked / , don't even remember when I had seen that fellow the last time. When the ride was done we were asked whether we wanted to go again. Well yeah, sure...thank you very much . So we went again and soaked up the atmosphere once more.
We were really hungry and decided to look for some food on Main Street, maybe a hot dog at Casey's. So we started walking but when we passed through Frontierland we saw that there was absolutely no queue for Big Thunder Mountain, so we just HAD to go there as it's one of our favourite rides. We could simply walk through the waiting area and board the next arriving train. It was totally dark already so the right got a special touch but the wind blowing was sooo cold...brrr. Still very enjoyable.
After the right we finally made our way to Main Street and saw why there had been no queues anywhere: everyone was waiting for the Fantillusion Parade and the first float (the one with Mickey on it) was just making izs way up the street. Despite being really hungry now we decided to stop and watch the parade. I think it was cut short because of the temperatures (at least it seemed quite short) but we enjoyed every minute of it. We also still had a pretty good space and could see quite well but unfortunately not well enough to take decent pictures without other people's heads or so.
When the parade finished of course every food establishment in the park was closed already and so we quickly decided to go to McDonald's in the Village. First time I was there and walking in there it seemed sooo chaotic. Mom got in line to order our food I went to look for a tanle upstairs and found a nice one for 2 people. Mom arrived surprisingly quickly so I guess the service works very efficiently there. We gulped down our meal and then strolled through the shops inside the Disney Village. I was a bit disappointed because there wasn't any new Veauty&The Beast stuff (of the cheaper kind) since my last visit. On the other hand that saved a lot of money so it most likely wasn't such a bad thing .
After we were fed up with shopping we went back to our hotel room, dropped off our jackets and then walked around in the hotel to explore a bit. The bar looked lovely but we were too tired to sit there for a drink, so we just checked the hotel shop as well as the Hunter's Grill and the Beaver Creek Tavern where the breakfast would be and besides that we were entertaining the thought to have dinner there one evening. Back in our room we had some small drinks we had taken with us and already thought about the next days before hitting the hay.

[The Butlin Boy]

Great start to your trip report, sounds like you've had a good time so far. Shame about Pirates though, but I agree with you when you say it could do with a refurb, especially as you've said the duelling pirates, I hope they get fixed :wink:

BTM....Walk on!!! :shock:

[SophieD]

great pics Coldsun! i love the pictures of skull rock covered in snow!!

can't wait to read more!  

[never2old]

Great start!

You're so lucky, I haven't seen BTM with no queue for years!!! I love it by night, it feels faster and looks brilliant    Of course last time I had to get a fastpass and wait for 10 minutes to ride it by night, and the time before I had to queue 40 minutes for it!!

Shame Pirates was closed for the rest of the stay, it's one of the best rides... Hope they do get around fixing the dueling pirates, totally agree with you that they look rather sad now...

Looking forward for more!!

[ColdSun]

yes, I was also surprised that there was no queue for BTM but it was the only time during the whole trip that we saw that and I really think it was because of Fantillusion...

Anyway, I had ome more time than expected today, so let's continue ...

DAY 2 05.01.2009

I really love the beds in all Disney hotels, I always sleep so well. Also in Sequoia Lodge of course. As I mentioned before our breakfast time was 7:00, so we had to get up early. But it was ok, especially since Extra Magic Hours were starting at 8:00. We got up and dressed and were already at breakfast around 6:50. They were just opening the restaurants and we chose Hunter's Grill. We were the first ones so had free choice of table and picked one near the window. Big mistake – it was freezing cold there! Breakfast itself was basic but enough and efficient. I just love those little chocolate croissants ... I found the food being presented in a nicer way than in Santa Fe (where we had stayed last time) but the selection was about the same I would say. We stuffed ourselves and also packed a few rolls and croissants for snacks. Then we picked up our jackets from our room, double-checked that we had everything and closed the door. In the hotel lobby, Eeyore was having a little photo session and since the line was so short I decided to have my picture taken as well. I just love Eeyore, he's so cute :oops: . Mom decided she also wanted a picture and so she got in line as well. Then we headed to the park and arrived there around 8:20. We headed straight for Fantasyland and saw that there was absolutely nobody in the Mad Hatter's Teacups so of course we went there. Of course we also saw Belle's Christmas Village but as people on the forum had said before it was closed :cry: . Afterwards we headed to Peter Pan, from the Disney classics darkrides this is definitely my favourite and it definitely was nice to not have to queue or take a Fastpass. I just love Extra Magic Hours / . Les Voyages De Pinocchio was also open and so we went there as well and it was actually better than we both had remembered. Snow White was closed still and unfortunately nothing in Adventureland and Frontierland was open so we went to Discoveryland. For some reason we had never done Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast, don't really know why. So we decided to try it out and it's such a blast indeed :shock: . I absolutely loved it and so did mom, we really felt ashamed that we had never tried it before.
It was about 9:30 by then and since we wanted to reserve a table at Inventions we checked if the City Hall was already open. It was and so we reserved our table. We asked the cast member working if it would really be ok to use 4 Halfboard Plus vouchers for the 2 of us and then pay the difference. He assured us that it would be perfectly fine. We also asked about Belle's Christmas Village and if it would be open during the day or tomorrow and were told that it was already closed down :cry: . That was the first big disappointment because the main reason for the trip had been that I could see it and get my picture taken with the Beast. I don't think it's fair to advertise seasonal stuff and then close parts of it even though the season is still going. I'm honestly considering writing a complaint about that to Disney. I know it may sound stupid to you but I feel like we paid a lot of money for something we didn't get :? . If we had known that Belle's Christmas Village would have already been closed there we definitely would not have booked the trip, especially since I already have another trip for March planned. Ok, anyway, back to topic. We admired a little bit more the Christmas decorations on Main Street as well as the Christmas Tree and then decided what to do.
It was snowing like crazy but we decided to go to the Studio Park anyway to look around there and I wanted mom to try Crush's Coaster which I had loved during my last 1-day-visit with a friend in April 2008. It was still before 10:00 but we could already go queuing and that was a good thing because the line was already quite long. For me it was worth it though, I still love the ride and this time I managed to keep my eyes open for most of the ride :lol: . I had thought that mom would enjoy the ride because she loves Big Thunder Mountain and she loves Mad Hatter's Teacups and since Crush's sort of combines the two I thought it would be ok. Unfortunately it wasn't. Mom started to feel really bad, had shaky knees and just felt really dizzy..I had such a guilty conscience :? . So we decided to take it easy and just walk through the Studios getting some fresh air. We saw that Emile was just having his Meet&Greet and I had been dying to meet him so I got in line. Right before it was my turn Emile went away and Remy came which was just as good though. I was told Emile would be back in 30Minutes and so we walked around some more and made it to a Stitch Live show in English. I really didn't know what to expect from it but it was so much fun! Also mom enjoyed it even though she has never seen the movie and had always told me before that she thinks Stitch is ugly :shock: . Anyway, I totally love this new attraction, it's a magnificent addition to the park. When we got out we checked if Emile was already back and he was, so I got my picture taken with him / . He was so adorable, I totally fell in love. We had a ride on the Flying Carpets and then strolled a bit to the shops before heading back to the Disneyland Park.
Snow White was now open of course, so we had a ride on that. I still find it way too scary for children. We were still a bit cold and it hadn't stopped snowing, so we headed to Phantom Manor and visited the Dragon on the way (still so impressive). Phanton Manor is the perfect ride (just like Buzz) for cold weather: it's warm and quite long... We had gotten Fastpasses for Buzz, Peter Pan and Big Thunder Mountain (yes, I had bought some Fastpasses on ebay and they worked perfectly fine) but it was still a bit of time. We went to Discoveryland and decided to walk through the Nautilus. Hadn't done that for a long time and going through it again made me realize why: I simply don't find it that great. But ok, at least we did it again. After a short visit to Videopolis it was time for our Fastpasses. First up was Buzz that we grew to love more and more. Then on to Peter Pan which was as great as always even though the ride seemed a bit jerky to me. Then the ride on Big Thunder Mountain before we went to see the Mickey's Winter Wonderland show. It was really cute and entertaining but despite our warm clothes and seating cushions we had brought we both got really cold at the end and therefore weren't that sad when the show ended. To warm up we went into Phantom Manor again. Our reservation for Inventions was at 18:00 but before we still had time for a ride on It's A Small World. Still so very cute.
Then we ventured to the Disneyland Hotel and got in line for Inventions which wasn't open yet. It opened its doors on time though. We presented our reservation and asked again if we could use 4 Halfboard Plus vouchers for 2 persons and then pay the remaining difference. And the guy said No :shock: ! It would only be possible to use one voucher per person... We were like "What???" and started discussing but the guy was very uncooperative and almost a bit unfriendly and basically ignored us then :| . There was no way that we would use only one voucher per person and then pay still over 60euros, it's simply not possible with our budget. So we had no other choice but to leave. Of course we were disappointed but we were even more annoyed. Annoyed that we had been misinformed in the City Hall and annoyed at the way the cast member had treated us. Sorry but not everyone has the funds to pay whatever price for a meal, no need to get snobby towards us :evil: . If I write a complaint to Disney I will definitely mention that as well.
So now we were faced with a serious problem: where to eat? We still had 3 vouchers per person left so we definitely wanted to use one that evening. We made plans to try out Hunter's Grill in our hotel but on the way there we passed by The Steakhouse in the Disney Village and took a look at the menu that would be available for us. It looked really good so we went inside and because it was still early were lucky enough to get a table right away despite not having a reservation. We both chose something from the Halfboard Plus Menu and shared a bit bottle of San Pellegrino. For starters mom had a carrot-coriander-soup cappuccino-style and I had a Caesar's salad, for the main course mom chose a chicken curry with Basmati rice and mango chutney while I ate a tuna steak with a really good eggplant-creamcheese-thingie. The food was absolutely delicious, we were almost happy that Inventions had turned us down. :wink:  For desert we both opted for the Bailey's Crème Brulée which was absolutely to die for. I still start drooling just thinking about it. We knew that the vouchers actually included a non-alcoholic drink but it still was a pleasant surprise that we didn't have to pay the big bottle of water. Plus our waiter was so very nice.
It was still quite early and so we thought it would be a great idea to check out the hotel pool because otherwise we probably wouldn't have time but we wanted to see it. So we got our swimming stuff and looked for the pool. It was a bit hard to find but we made it. It was quite crowded though and the water could have been a bit warmer (the whirlpool was closed) so we didn't stay too long but hey, at least we can say that we also used the pool :lol: . After our swimming experience we went back to our room to take a shower, have some more of our drinks we brought and decide what to do the next day. After all we still had 2 vouchers each available. Had we known about the Inventions thing before we definitely would not have eaten at McDonald's the day before but chosen something nicer. None of us felt like using a voucher on Wednesday with the flight still ahead (my stomach is a bit sensitive to flying especially when full). So there was only one option and we chose to take it: we would skip breakfast and sleep in instead and then have an early lunch with the vouchers as well as a late dinner. With the situation solved, we went to bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

[Javey74]

Great two days reporting, sorry to hear about your fiasco with Belle's Christmas Village and Inventions.  I have had experience at DLRP when things go wrong, they can go really wrong.. :roll:

On that note, I would of went back to City Hall first of all, and lodged the complaint there first, they may have been able to come to some arrangement for the following day, it does happen at times... :wink:  

But I'm pleased to hear a lot more of the good points you had, which seem to outweigh your disappointments, well up to now anyway, which is the main thing..

Looking forward to reading more..

Thanks again for sharing.. :wink:

[never2old]

Sorry to hear what happened with your vouchers at Inventions!! I'm not one to normally complain, but I think in this case you really should - at least to prevent that happening to someone else! They should really inform everyone about what the rules are regarding the vouchers!!

Still, at least you got a nice meal out of it....  :wink: That Bailey's creme brulé sounds yummy!!

[Epcot_Boy]

Enjoyable report =D>  Sorry to hear about Belle's and Inventions  It can be a real pain when things don't go according to plan.........glad everything else was fine :wink:

Loved the photos also.......I just love night pics =D>

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[ColdSun]

@Javey74: you are right actually, we should have gone back to City Hall. Somehow never thought of it, maybe the cold froze our brains . And yes, the possitive definetely outweighed the negative by far!!!

@never2old: I wrote a letter to DLRP now mentioning the Inventions situations and also about Belle's Christmas Village. I don't think I'll ever get an answer but I hope they will read and recognize it. For the amount of money one pays, I would expect to get accurate infos and at least be treated nicely.