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[Javey74]

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm really pleased you are all enjoying it..  :mrgreen:

Captain Pan: When you get to go to DLRP next, I'll help you if you want me to with your Itinerary, though a word of warning, it will look rather like a Military Mission Assignment..  :lol:  :mrgreen:

[Captain Pan]

Captain Pan: When you get to go to DLRP next, I'll help you if you want me to with your Itinerary, though a word of warning, it will look rather like a Military Mission Assignment..  :lol:  :mrgreen:

You obviously haven't seen what the Captain is like when it comes to having things done and sorted... I have precision that even the world must fit to what I want to do,when my mind is set to it!

So I'm used to it... well sort of...

[Aveen2008]

Omg you met Alice...that's it now I am totally jealous :shock:  hehe!!

Jen reminds me so much of my cousin when she was younger, the resemblance is amazing really! The comparison of the photos of her in the space of those 3 years is astonishing too, they grow up so quick!!

 =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  I will join in the applause for the cast members of the character express and for most of the cast members in the park as they are pretty great!!

your photos are so clear and crisp, it's a great camera and of course a great photographer :wink: !! I wish you had stayed for a month because I am going to be so sad when yoru report is over , I love reading it! =D>  /

Awwwh, thanks Aveen, those comments were really touching..  

Well since I was young, people used to say that I had a vivid imagination, and a way of telling particular stories.  I possibly could continue the trip as though I was still there, but somehow I don't think it would work in this instance..  :mrgreen:

I am actually quite liking that idea!!  hehe

[burntsienna]

Why does it have to be nearly over :cry:

[never2old]

Now I'm not sure if this scene has always been included but I can't for the life of me remember the card game scene where there was a game of cards being played at a table, but the cards were being lifted by an invisable force, then being played backwards and forwards on the table by themselves. It's located at the Boot Hill scene just before you reach the evil red eye'd skeleton dog..    :shock:

Yep, that was there before - inside a house on the right, right? It's one of my favourite bits in that scene  

Another great chapter...    =D>

[SophieD]

awww Jen looks so grown up in a space of 3 years   time really does fly!
 =D>  =D> to all the CM's!

I don't want this report to end  :cry:  :cry:

[Javey74]

Well I'm really angry now... :evil:  :evil:  :evil:

I've just been on since 3.00pm for the last instalment, and was reading it through, editing it. I got to the last paragraph ready to send when and the whole Laptop crashed, even though I'd copied the text, so I could paste it in case the internet went off. But because the whole system crashed, it's in memory and I had to shut the laptop down manually, to get the laptop working again...NOW IT'S GONE.. :x  :x  :x

[DLP-Photos.com]

I am so sorry for you Javey - I hate when computers do this!

However, you just take all the time you need to recreate the final chapter and anything else that mifht have been involved in the crash. This report's quality makes it worth the wait no matter what  /

[The Butlin Boy]

Well I'm really angry now... :evil:  :evil:  :evil:

I've just been on since 3.00pm for the last instalment, and was reading it through, editing it. I got to the last paragraph ready to send when and the whole Laptop crashed, even though I'd copied the text, so I could paste it in case the internet went off. But because the whole system crashed, it's in memory and I had to shut the laptop down manually, to get the laptop working again...NOW IT'S GONE.. :x  :x  :x

Ouch! #-o I'm sorry to hear that Javey, good luck with re-writing it

[Javey74]

OMG...That took some re-writing..   :shock:  :shock:

The main problem was that I was writing all of it from memory, all I had written was quick notes. So that way if you lose what you write you can never write the same again, and that's what makes it extra difficult..  :shock:  :shock:

Anyway.....Here goes..2nd attempt..  :mrgreen:


Day 4 Continuation 2...

Well we reluctantly had to leave the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque and leave the music I was loving so much.    Jen wanted to go to the 'Pocahontas Indian Village' play area.  So we headed over passing the..  :wink:



Which we've never had the luck to see in operation on any DLRP Trip.  :shock: Jen ran straight on into the...



Pocahontas Indian Village play area, whilst Jen was running around like a lunatic, burning some calories.  :mrgreen:  I decided on the other hand to wander down to the waters edge with Vanessa to feed some ducks we had spotted, just then a new visitor to the Indian Village had arrived in the shape of..  



Grey Heron...Well.... After continuing to throw pieces of a spare croissant I'd put in my pocket at breakfast time, it just stood there watching the ducks feeding, at some point it looked as though it was going to take some, lowering it's neck, but I wasn't convinced that it was very hungry.  It also looked as though it didn't want to get it's feet wet either..  :lol:  :mrgreen:



Jen had a little bit more play in the play area, which give me a little more thinking time. I then began to wonder if Casey Junior was open, since it had been closed throughout our trip upto now. We took a round about trip to get there, going through Adventureland all the way round into Fantasyland. We followed the usual path past Alice's Curious Labyrinth, then looking ahead the sign read 'CLOSED'.... Oh no, why oh why oh why was it closed.  :x  :x  I ended up just glaring at the rope that was strung across the path.  It left me totally confused as to the reason why, since as mentioned earlier, there was no closures or refurbishments due at this present time.  :?  :roll:

We were conscious of the time since in about 15 minutes we needed to be at the Chaparral Theatre for the showing of "Mickey's Winter Wonderland" show. /  /  We thought it best to take a slow walk back into Frontierland, taking in the atmosphere on the way.  On arriving at the...



Chaparral Theatre, we entered an already quite full theatre, finding seats 3 rows down from the very back, sort of central and only slightly obscured by a support post.  :roll:  This was going to requirel for a lot of zoom to get the shots I was after in here.  :shock:  Looking at the stage set up brought back vivid memories from the last time I saw this show.  

Photo's can be viewed here>>

http://public.fotki.com/disneymagic/mic ... nter-wond/

Well we started to leave the Chaparral Theatre still all estatic and humming the song's that we had been listening to, it was just great..  :-"    

On exiting the Chaparral Theatre, we were directly in line to Woody's Roundup, on looking closer we noticed Jessie in the far corner, so we quickly rushed over..  



Well it was time to start and leave the Magic..  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:  

We started to head towards Main Street, to do the final bits of shopping, you know as you do.  In our case checking how many Euros we had left and buying the final items we had been looking at over the whole trip.  Usually by now it's mostly 'Pins'.. Oh, and a couple of ties I was after for work..  

Heading past Town Square and the Station we all took a last look back at the Castle.  I for one had a lump in my throat, I know Vanessa would have been the same, Jen was trying hard to hold her tears back, but it was no good, as she started crying..  :cry:  :cry:  

But then I reminded them all of the fact that we weren't going to say 'Goodbye', it's a new coping mechanism we've come to learn and use.  We now say "Farewell, but we'll be back" then "A Bientot"..  :wink:    It's much better and easier to cope with.. :wink: I've always hated Goodbyes in that respect..

Anyway, we arrived back at the Santa Fe Left Luggage Room to collect our belongings; on leaving, the staff said the same thing as we did to the Castle, "A Bientot".  Really nice they were.  

We quickly nipped over into the hotel reception area to open the cases, as you do to put the last minute purchases in them, before re-locking them. We had about 15 minutes left before Mark was due to pick us up..  :wink:

Once we had sorted the cases out, we decided to wait outside on the seats. It was funny, just before Mark was due to pick us up, a VEA bus pulled in, a woman got off and asked if we were going to CDG, we just said "No, it's ok".  She got back in and drove off.  As she drove off I noticed the bus was empty.  :shock:  :shock:

Just after 5.45pm Mark arrived.  We all started to get into the taxi while Mark put our cases and hand luggage into the boot.  Jen wanted to sit in the front with me for going back, but I said she should really sit in the back. But then there was a stroke of luck for Jen.  Mark said he was picking up a family of 5 at the Sequoia Lodge, so she could if she wanted. So Jen got into the front with me, with Vanessa in the back.    With us all onboard we headed off around the corner to the Sequoia Lodge, but the people Mark was picking up, weren't outside.  

Saying that we were early, so we all waited a while.  :mrgreen: Whilst we were waiting I got talking to Mark. The first thing I asked him was if he'd managed to get his lights sorted out, to my astonishment he hadn't, he said that he hadn't stopped since dropping us off on Sunday, but he had managed to book it into the garage tomorrow, as he was a little quieter for pickup's and dropoffs.  :mrgreen:

Seeing a VEA bus pull up near us, got me into asking Mark something I'd often wondered, and that was if the VEA buses were partially owned by Disney or if they were just contracted by Disney.  :?:  He told me that the VEA company were an individual company just contracted by Disney, but he then went on to tell me a really interesting story about them.  

Apparently over the last year or so there was a police investigation into allegations made by the VEA company about private taxis stealing a lot of the VEA customers at the airports and the hotels.  It later became apparent that this was not the case.  Mark said if you visited a lot of the VEA bus drivers homes they were well furnished and had state of the art mod cons, also theses mod cons were paid for by cash, very few of the drivers had credit cards.  But then he went onto explain what was actually going on.  :shock:  :shock:

During the investigation it came to light that when passengers were getting picked up by the drivers, the driver would just ask how many adults and how many children there were, then which hotel.  He would then charge them the acquired rates with no receipt, but instead of putting the money in the cash bag they would just pocket it instead.  :shock:  :shock:  Bearing in mind for an average family of four consisting of 2 adults and 2 children, at present that would be a total of €60.00.  But what the drivers would do so it looked less suspicious would be to only keep a handful of the families money that boarded the bus.    :shock: So out of say 12 families on board they would keep the money from 4 of them.  :shock:  :shock:  

After the investigation had finished most of the drivers were sacked and the VEA company re-recruited, also putting a new system in place where by having to give receipts to all passengers, a copy of which imprints on an internal role on the ticket machine.  :wink: Also they started increasing the amount of pre-bookings for the VEA bus through travel agents in the way of pre-payed vouchers.  :wink:  When I told him about the VEA bus that had just arrived before him being empty, he couldn't help but laugh.  :mrgreen: It was just at this point that the family he was looking for turned up.  It was an Irish family heading to Belfast also by  EasyJet.  

We were on our way.  

Now, I don't think this habit is just mine, but I bet everyone who leaves DLRP does this.  :wink:   As you get out onto the roads around Val d'Europe and Marne-La-Vallee, you constantly look back for a glimpse of the Castle, Space Mountain and now TOT. Come on I bet you do  :lol:  :mrgreen:

On leaving the outer parameter ring I noticed that there seem to be a lot of building work going on.   But about 2 miles west of the parameter ring I noticed a set of houses or flats, not sure which, maybe both. But on closer inspection I was amazed looking at the view they would get from the upstairs windows since the rear windows were facing towards DLRP, with the Castle and TOT directly in sight. /  Imagine if you woke up on a bright sunny morning at home, opened your curtains to see a view of the Sleeping Beauty Castle straight in front of you in the distance.  :shock:   Wow...  /  /  /

We kept heading west, till any sight of DLRP had disappeared, but I can tell you that if you're travelling to CDG airport, the last glimpse you get of the Castle is when you turn off the road from Marne-La-Vallee onto the A104, it's a sharp right turn, if you quickly look to your left you can still see the top of it in the distance. Then it's gone forever...  :cry:  :cry:  :cry:

Well Mark got us to the airport in about 35 minutes, he dropped us off first at terminal 2b.   He got out of the taxi opening the boot to get our cases and hand luggage.  I went in my wallet to get the €47.00, I gave him the notes first, then just as I was about to give him the €2.00 he said "No, it doesn't matter".  How nice was that, but I said "No, take it", he really deserved it, he was a brilliant host getting us to DLRP and a good one getting us back to the airport.  I'd book him again for our next trip, since I'd kept his business card.  He even took us into the check-in foyer, telling us some of the shortcuts to use to by-pass the queues..  

We went through to the check in area within the airport, even though at CDG there is a lot to be desired, very strange ways, and if you want a reality check, it hits you like a brick in this place..  :lol:  :lol:  :mrgreen: But we eventually got to the plane, leaving 15 minutes late.  :roll:  Arriving back at Newcastle just 9 minutes later than expected, but I wasn't bothered since you're never in a rush to get back home to reality are you. :roll:

After leaving the airport we went for the car, which was as easy to pick up as it was for dropping it off, another airport parking facility I would definitely use again.   Then it was off to get our little Gizmo who had been stopping at Vanessa's Mam's while we were away.  :wink:

Finally there was the drive back home, I knew things just wouldn't be the same for a while.  I was right, the depression was starting to set in quicker than I expected.  

I just kept thinking of all the merchandise I had to go through, aswell as all the photo's to sort, they were the only things that really cheered me up.. :mrgreen:

Summary and Statistics to Follow>>>

[Aveen2008]

Aw I feel all sad now lol!  I do the same when leavingthe resort i keep looking back for a glimpse of something TOT or the balloon or something to hold onto the magic that little bit longer!

do you have any idea of when you will return?

[MizzRabbit]

Aww, that last part was so sad. I bet we all feel like that. You go home to your appartment and it feels emptier than normal, more sterile. You start to unpack and all your merchandise and goodies appear and you can't help but think of the memories and how sad it is to be home away from the glee, the music, the sound of happy people. And it lasts for days and days.

When I get home from my next trip in april, I can't spend time being sad as I have to work really hard on my bachelor project and have no time to waste. It's gonna be really hard.

I really loved your trip report Jav! Loved all the pictures and stories. Made me feel like I was just there. Thx so much for writing it!

[Nala_84]

Sorry, I've been abscent from the forum for quite a while now, and your report is soooo long, that I concentraded more on the photos so far and read only parts of the report :mrgreen:

But your report and pictures are absolutely brilliant, javey!! It is just so much fun looking at it!!!

And wow, Jen has grown up sooo much!! How old is she now? I love the character pics with her! Such a lucky girl, I think if I will have a daughter and/or son once, they'll also be "Disney babies", I want to show them the wonderful world of Disney right from the beginning hehe !

Aw, I didn't know it was your first time on Space Mountain, too ! My first ride was in 2007 and I think our feelings and reactions are pretty similar !

It's just such a shame the report is already over !

[DLP-Photos.com]

Simply AMAZING Javey!

That is all that can be said about this report. I'm sorry that it is finished now, but also so happy as you have almost given me half a DLRP Trip with this amazing report. The photos in particular have been absolutely stunning, but again so has the text.

 =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D> Bravo =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>  =D>

[The Butlin Boy]

What an awesome trip report Javey, well done and thanks for sharing it with us. I'm glad you all had such a great trip =D>  :mrgreen: