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[ColdSun]

Trip Report March 22nd – March 25th

Cast: me (26 years), Tanja (31 years)
Pictures: most of them are taken by Tanja, some are taken by me

DAY 1
Sunday March 22nd

Finally it was THE day – not only my 26th birthday but also the start of Tanja's and my 4-day stay at DLP  / . We already had spent an amazing day in Paris at my friend's place, so we didn't have to go on a annoying plane/bus/car journey, instead we just hopped on the RER and started to buzz with excitement. Basically we were looking out of the window all the time to see whether we could already spot something maybe in the distance. After arriving at the train station we through the Disney Village and after a few minutes more we arrived at our hotel, the Cheyenne!

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It was my first time staying in that hotel and Tanja's first time in any Disney park, so we were both excited. Somehow it took us a while to find the reception :lol: but we made it eventually. The check in went ok, the guy was a little confused but I managed to get all our stuff together. Surprisingly our room was already ready and so we ventured to the Annie Oakley building and into our lovely room. I must say that I was really impressed and I totally understand why so many people say that the Cheyenne is the hotel with the most details.

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Of course we both wanted to go to the park, so we packed our things and headed off. Walking once again through the Disney Village I once again got this surreal feeling, I simply couldn't believe that I was there again. We entered the Disneyland Park and as expected it was very crowded. We had decided beforehand to just take it easy that day and not stress ourselves with going on a certain number of attractions or so. We went straight to get in line for the Disneyland Railroad and while waiting marvelled at Main Street and of course the Castle.

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Luckily we actually didn't have to wait that long and so we had a nice little ride all around the park. Tanja enjoyed it as you can see

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Then we went through the park and got Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan and Buzz (thanks to additional Fastpasses bought on Ebay :-" ) but all of them were for a time slot much later on. Les Pays De Contes De Fées wasn't too crowded so we had a ride on that and it was cute as always.

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Afterwards we headed to the Studios.

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Of course the waiting times were insane there (120 minutes for Crush's) so we just strolled a bit around and then decided to go for an early dinner so that we would be ready in time for our Fastpasses. We had the Halfboard Standard vouchers and I really wanted to try Annette's Diner.

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We went there and were seated right away. The service was a bit slow but nice (one waiter spilled Tanja's half-full drink and she got a full new one instantly) and the food was delicious. We had yummy burgers (I had the Bebop Burger, Tanja the Onion one) with good side orders (hash browns and coleslaw)...

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...and good brownies with ice-cream for desert.

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After being filled up we still had time to on a ride on Phantom Manor...

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...and a walk on Boot Hill, hearing the scary heartbeat out of the anonymous grave...

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...before it was time for Thunder Mountain.

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Oh, how I love that ride, I never grow tired of it . And this time it was especially fun because it was already quite dark. The lines for POTC were quite short so of course we boarded one of the boats and pretended that it was the most thrilling ride ever :wink: .

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Then on to Buzz where our on-ride photo turned out even more hilarious. Can you feel the competitive vibe from Tanja (she's on the right, I'm the one with the red jacket) :lol: ?

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Actually it would have been time to go on Peter Pan but when we got there, it was stuck and none of the cast members knew how long the difficulties would last. So we decided to head off, went on Pinocchio, It's A Small World and SnowWhite instead, paid the Dragon a visit...

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...and admired the Castle during darkness.

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Then it was time to leave and after a short visit to the Disney Store in the Village we ended up in our hotel bar where I got a birthday cocktail (Jesse James) from Tanja. The cocktails were very good and ok priced.

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We just sat around and chatted, went shortly into the General Store and then to our room where we prepared our stuff for the next day and then switched off the lights.

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...to be continued...

[The Butlin Boy]

Fantastic trip report ColdSun, I really enjoyed reading it

Don't you think the photos are a bit too big though? Is there any way to make them smaller? :wink:

EDIT: Don't worry, it's been sorted now :wink:

[Epcot_Boy]

Interesting read

Thanks for sharing

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[never2old]

Great start to your report, and beautiful pictures!! The one with BTM and the sun behind it is stunning...

Glad to see I'm not the only one who always comes out looking extremely serious and competitive in the Buzz Lightyear pictures  :wink: !

[kiki_304]

Loved the photos.

I can't wait to show my 3 and 5 year olds your picture of the Dragon.  We went to visit the Dragon last year and both of them nearly wet them selves because of the dark and noise.  I did manage to get a pic but not a full length like yours.  

I will try them again this year to see if they are happier than the twice they tried last year. lol

[giorgio1712]

Nice report and pictures, looknig forward to some more!

[ColdSun]

Thanks for your nice comments !

@Butlin_Boy: yes, I realized after posting that the pics were HUGE :oops: , so I made them into links...

DAY 2
Monday March 23rd

We had decided before our trip that we would not use the Extra Magic Hours but rather sleep a little longer. Our breakfast was at 9:15 and when we got there there was a huge queue but it moved very fast and we also found a table quickly. Breakfast was good and we also made 2 sandwiches each to take with us.

We went straight to the Studios even though it wasn't officially open yet, so that we could get in line for Crush's. However, it became quite clear that the ride wasn't working once again, so instead we decided to see if Donald was already at his M&G area...and he was. Here you can see Tanja waiting anxiously to meet her first Disney Character :

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And here she is with Donald:

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After the picture we saw that suddenly they were letting people into Crush's, so we ran to the line and didn't have to wait that long. I love that crazy ride, it's so much fun! Afterwards we had a spin on Cars as well as on the Flying Carpets.

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And then it was time to meet Emile. We already had so much fun watching him interact with the other guests, he was totally in character and absolutely adorable. When it was our turn, Tanja went first and Emile got all shy but in the end they hugged and even danced waltz together :wink: .

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Then it was my turn to go and once again Emile was all shy but he overcame it eventually and yawaned while "discretely" putting his arm around me :lol: .

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Then he wanted a kiss which of course he got...

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He swooned against the wall and then waved good-bye to us. Such a cutie. We decided to go to the Disneyland Park, and I took a picture with my favourite Disney female...(ok, with her cardboard alter ego ):

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Got Fastpasses for Peter Pan and walked through the Labyrinth.

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Afterwards there was still time and Tanja went for a ride on Indiana Jones. I'm very scared of loopings so I didn't go but when Tanja came back she finally convinced me to go on it and so I finally rode my very first looping. It was ok, not too bad but not amazing either. But I'm happy I did it.

It was time to go on Peter Pan now.

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Still love that ride, it's so cute. So is the Sleeping Beauty Castle which we visited next.

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Afterwards we headed to Discoveryland. Tanja is a huge Star Wars fan and wanted to go on Star Tours of course. I feel sick on that ride so I waited outside and by coincidence there was just the It's Dancetime...in Discoveryland Show going on.

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Must say, I wasn't impressed at all, found it really annoying. Buzz was a nice relaxation and fun as always and after another ride on the Thunder Mountain we went over to the Studios again.

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Strolled around and considered going on Tower Of Terror but the time to our restaurant reservation was drawing close, so we decided to put it off another day. So just strolled around until it was time to go to Rendezvous des Stars Restaurant. The buffet was decent, some very yummy things, others a bit bleak (deserts were awesome though) but of course the main reason we were there was to see little Remy. And then finally he came:

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He was soooo adorable, dancing and nodding and so on, it was a lot of fun to watch.

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After eating we strolled around some more...

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We then walked through some shops in the Studios, then it was time for us to leave the parks and take the train to Paris because we had to (and wanted to) attend a concert there. After the concert - which was absolutely amazing - we of course had to still go back to the Disney area. It was a long ride with the RER but everything went fine, we were in our room around 1:30. Got everything ready for the next day and hit the hay happily exhausted.

...to be continued...

[DLP-Photos.com]

Great report and some fantastic photos - especially the one of Phantom Manor (that building is just so beautiful in it's own spooky way and you've captured it perfectly  =D>

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This one however is by far the best in my opinion - it is truly beautiful and with the owl in the foreground  =D>  /

I am looking forward to the continuation :mrgreen:

[The Butlin Boy]

Great update to your trip report, I'm glad you had a great second day. I'm looking forward to day 3

[ColdSun]

so here it comes

DAY 3
Tuesday, March 24th

We were quite tired from the night before and therefore happy that breakfast was once again at 9:15, It was busy but once again we managed to get a table quickly. But the behavior of some people really is so rude: I mean if you are done breakfasting and see people are looking for a table why don't you put your trays away yourselves? Wasn't such a great start in the day to clean other people's trash but what can you do. Breakfast was still enjoyable though, I absolutely love the cheddar cheese they have.

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While walking through the Disney Village we just had to take a pic of Tanja in front of King Ludwig's Castle. After all she is from Bavaria and lives quite close to the original ...

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We went to the Disneyland Park and finally had a ride on one of my favourite attractions: the Teacups  

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Afterwards we headed straight over to POTC and had another enjoyable ride on it. When we got out, I spotted Jack Sparrow hanging around and so of course we went over to have our pictures taken with him. We had to wait quite a while because children kept pushing in front but in the end we managed. The guy was really nice and played the character quite well. He even spoke a little German.

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I convinced Tanja that she should try Space Mountain as she really likes thrill-rides and loopings and the like. The waiting time was only 5 minutes so I didn't have to wait for her that long and she absolutely loved it. Afterwards we went on Buzz again and it seems Tanja got annoyed with all those on-ride-photos and wanted to shhot the camera :lol:

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We went to the Studios and then it was time to go on Tower Of Terror :? . I was so very scared, really. The whole set is magnificent and the cast members are one more huge plus. We had a female bellhoop who instructed us and she was very creepy. About the ride itself I can only say that we both absolutely loved it! It was so much fun and I was kinda annoyed with myself that I had chickened out on my previous visits. The attraction, made it among my favourites instantly.

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After that big accomlishment we went to see Stitch Live! which was even more hilarious than I had remembered it. Afterwards it was just time for Animagique which we also enjoyed. Getting hungry we went back to the Disneyland Park...

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Had yummy chicken fajitas in Fuente Del Oro, I really love that place, I think it's my favourite fast-food place to eat at in the resort. We were just finished in time for the Once Upon A Dream Parade which we watched standing on a bench at the Castle stage. We were lucky to have a small and cute toddler in front of us, so smone characters stopped by.

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We got the Dreams Of Power float as a show-stop. The "fire"-jugglers were totally unmotivated but the Evil Queen did a great job and was stunning on top of that.

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We also had fun during the rest of the parade.

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Tanja wanted to go on Space Mountain again...

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Afterwards we visited Phantom Manor once more before walking over to see if Woody was at his M&G area but he wasn't :| . So instead we strolled through some shops already eyeing what to buy the next day. Then it was time once again to go into Paris and attend the second concert (same band though ). We were back in our room at the same time as the night before and the beds welcomed us warmly.

...to be continued...

[The Butlin Boy]

Another great update, I really enjoyed looking at your photos and hearing about your trip. I'm looking forward to the rest

[never2old]

Very enjoyable report!! And it sounds like you had very little crowds, and looks like beautiful weather!

Looking forward to the rest  

[DLP-Photos.com]

Once again a good update of your report ColdSun - it really is enjoyable.

[SophieD]

Another great edition to your trip report Cold Sun!!
I love the pictures of the parade! It was great to see one of my friends in costume! As she has just got a job as a character performer!! (i'm sooo jealous!)
What concert did you see in Paris??
Looking forward to reading more

[Mr_B]

Excellent trip report so far - feels like I'm there  =D>

Glad you're having a great time  

Mr_B