Home

[TR_Wolf]

DAY 2.

I didn't sleep very well. I kept waking up through the night. But I have this same problem at home sometimes, so it's understandable, but I ended up waking up properly at about 5am, so I decided to play my Nintendo DS... but it was low in charge, so I looked for our UK-to-Europe plug adaptor to charge it up... but then I noticed that the socket was not just a two-pin-hole, but also had a pin itself, which my adaptor couldnt accomodate... very strange! (I ended up buying an adaptor from the Hotel shop later that day, which sorted it out).

It was at this point we realised we hadn't packed our swimming shorts and so couldnt take advantage of the hotel's pool etc! Sad face! Ah well, we'll know next time!

Breakfast was served in the Parkside Diner, and it was very nice, lots to eat and drink, and unlike Hotel Santa Fe's breakfast, this one had some hot food included too, including some very tasty sausages!

As we were up so early, we decided to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours at Disneyland Park. It was great, but so very strange how empty and quiet it was! See below:



However, many attractions still weren't open until the main opening time (10am) and we noticed a lot of staggered openings... ie some opening at 11, 12, 1 etc...

But we were still able to walk on to lots of attractions such as Buzz Lightyear's Ranger Spin, (in which for the first time ever in one of those shooty type games, I beat Phil!) Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Pinocchio and Snow White. However, the turnstiles to get into the attractions were... well I had to go through sideways!! See below!



We also noticed that a lot of shops dont seem to theme their products anymore, ie the Western Mercantile in Frontierland sells almost no western stuff any more, just the same products found in every shop... similarly, the piratey shop at the exit of Pirates of the Caribbean had The Nightmare Before Christmas stuff in it!

Speaking of Pirates... the ride was just as good, BUT one of the three singing pirates was missing, the swinging pirate wasn't working, and the brakes were too fierce... whenever we stopped, it stopped with such a sharp jerk that it gave a mini "whiplash" effect!

Whilst in Discoveryland, we popped to the loo and found they were American style... horseshoe toilet seats, high water levels, but luckily NO GAP EITHER SIDE OF THE DOOR! Hehe. Also it had the new Dyson Airblade hand-dryers, but one of them was badly placed so that a towel dispenser was directly above it, which meant that you had to lean backwards whilst using the hand-dryer, as the towel dispenser was pressed against your face!



At one point Phil went back to the hotel to get his jacket as he felt it was a bit nippy, so whilst he did, I sat in the area after the main entrances, but before you go under the archway onto Main Street, and watched a band play jazzy versions of Disney songs, which were great

Although I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, many cast members (and guests) were wearing scarves and gloves as though it was the depths of winter, wheras it felt okay to me, just a bit fresh!



Mad Hatter's Teacups and Casey Jr were closed.

Alice's Labyrinth was fun as usual, but my foot/ankle had started hurting after walking around yesterday, so it was a bit much after a while.




We also went on Carousel Du Lancelot, which is French for "OMG this is crushing my nads"



I was chatting to a Liverpuddlian lady on the horse next to me, who was lovely. However, when dismounting the horse, she came back around the horse and I kicked her in the belly!! Luckily she was alright, as I was only wearing my Crocs, but I felt really embarrassed! :blush: The horses were really high up in some cases, and hard to get up onto! It also was slower than I thought it would be.

Now Fantasyland had a few problems, mainly with being able to see things you shouldnt see, such as this walkway and warning signs etc visable from the castle:



The biggest one was in the whirlpool of hell that is It's A Small World...



Can you see the supports below?


Also inside the ride itself, I've always hated that the French version has a WHITE ceiling, and is so brightly lit that you can see the ceiling, all the workings, lights, vents etc, and thus can see all the effects and those not working etc, and to me, it really spoils it! You shouldn't be able to see all that! It's better in other parks where it has a black ceiling etc.

The rest of Fantasyland was great though, as usual!

I noticed Central Plaza had some landscape problems though, especially with the turf!



Now, my favourite attraction at DLP is Big Thunder Mountain... Paris' version of BTM is better than California and Florida, and has some real speed, it's great! Also, thanks to our super-awesome VIP Fastpasses, we were able to walk straight onto the ride, then after riding it, straight on again! I only got onto it 3 times in total but in that time, we were sat in the very front carriage, the very back carriage, and the central carriage, perfect! Hehe. We also knew where the camera was, and so made the occasional pose!



Phantom Manor was closed when we got there, but we still had a cast member take a photo for us!



As it so happens, we never got on Phantom Manor, as when it did re-open, the queue was massive all day!

We went for lunch at The Blue Lagoon, a really beautiful restaurant, and vastly improved since our last visit, and the food was delicious, as you can imagine, especially Phil's swordfish (he's waited for it since our last visit 5 years ago! hehe!). I had developed a liking for Nestea Ice Tea, which seems to be sold everywhere in DLP, and is as popular as Coke, Fanta, Sprite etc. So I ordered it, but then asked "oh by the way, what flavour is it?", the server replied "pish" ... "pish?" I repeated, "oui, pish", I turned to Phil, "pish?" the server then paged through the menu and pointed it out for us... "Oh, PEACH!!" I replied. From then on, and even now, Phil and I occasionally turn to each other and go "pish!" and then start giggling  :lol:  Saw a sign outside Blue Lagoon saying that Jack Sparrow occasionally appears there, but we sadly didnt see him, to my dismay!

When passing Toad Hall, I noticed a bag (almost like a camcorder bag) on a bench beside two empty strollers, and nobody nearby who seemed to own it, so I went to a cast member who was cleaning the  patio area at Toad Hall, I asked in French if she spoke English, she said "a little", I then said, "uh...baggage...non personnes..." and pointed. She went "oh!" and understood, then said thank you and dashed off inside quickly. We walked off a bit, and saw her come out and slowly move over to the bag, and go to pick it up, when a man casually walked over and picked it up, and the kids were put back into the strollers... seriously people, keep your bags with you, you never know these days!!



As my ankle was still hurting, and we were a bit tired out, we went back to Discoveryland and watched some classic Mickey toons in Videopolis, which was fun. Surprising how the real oldies can still make you laugh! I love the old Disney fluid style animation, very wibbly! Hehe

Whilst in there, we heard loud noise from outside, so went to investigate... it was the 'Stitch's Dance Party' thing... it just looked like an aerobics class but by people dressed in Lazy Town style costumes... it didnt much interest us, so we carried on to the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which although really interesting as a concept, I forgot how many stairs you have to climb!!

Phil then went on the Indy ride, which he says is better forwards than when it used to go backwards. I sat with two old French ladies whilst I waited, and tried to, in broken French, have a little chat with them. They were lovely

We were heading back out of the park, through Adventureland, and saying how we'd had a good time, "but..." I said to Phil, "I do wish I'd seen Jack Sparrow!", as we passed under the caves, I went "WHOA!"... "What?" Phil asked... I pointed forward, and Jack Sparrow was walking towards us!

I stopped him, "Jack... can I have a photo?", and in a very young, French voice, Jack replied, "Yess..." and posed with me.



I thanked him, and again in a very non-Jack sounding French voice, he said "Sank you, 'ave a nize day". I guess he was Jaques Sparreux, hehe.

We headed back to the hotel, aching, me with sore ankles, Phil with a sore leg (he has a nerve problem in his leg if he's stood/walking for a while without sitting), I think I possibly sprained my ankle, I dunno, but we were hobbling back, and felt like two right old men!

After a bit of a chill out at the hotel to rest our achey bits and recharge our batteries, we went out to Disney Village to go for dinner at King Ludwig's Castle. It was very busy, with a big queue at the door, but then the maitre'd came down the queue going "two? two?" and we said "oui!" and she asked us to follow her to a table... earning us loads of dirty looks from the people who had been waiting in front of us!

I love the interior of Ludwigs, very rich and Mediaeval, but the music was just sort of dance/pop music, and wasnt very loud, so you could just hear it thudding now and then over the loud noise of everyone talking. They should've had some German oompah style music playing instead, that would've added to the German feel, but we found upon looking in the menu, that it wasnt as German feeling as we remembered, including in the food choices, but it was still good. The food was nice, but nothing amazing, the burger certainly wasnt worth the 18 Euro, it was a nice burger, but nothing special. Also the service was very slow at times, especially in waiting for our dishes to be cleared. So yeah, it was nice, but we probably won't go there again.

We had a nosy around Disney Village again, especially in the great Disney Art Shop, and headded back to the hotel, where we promptly flaked out on the bed, and chilled out watching TV until we fell asleep!


You really think it's me?

DAY 3 to follow...

[DLP-Photos.com]

Thanks for another great update - it sounds and seems like you've had a good time despite staggering opening hours, hurting legs and not-so-secret-walkpaths in Fantasyland

[smurfy74]

We were there the same time as you and i was looking out for you both but to no avail. And how did i miss your mad shirts. Glad you had a good time, im looking forward to day 3

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for posting a great report, it was very entertaining to read (some part even made me laugh :wink: ). I'm looking forward to reading the rest

[Daniel]

I noticed Central Plaza had some landscape problems though, especially with the turf!

I noticed this problem as well. I think they have actually removed some of the speaker poles and tried to cover up where they used to be. Hopefully it won't be like this for too long before they put new poles in to support the speakers. Anyone know what is happening?

[luke85]

More great pics! Though this one made me sad...

[Masamune]

:shock: Wow, the guy playing Jack Sparrow is gorgeous! Only time I've ever seen him at DLRP was when he was leading a bunch of people on a wild goose chase around the caves. I was on the big rope bridge over-looking it all, so sadly I couldn't get to him.

[never2old]

Very enjoyable read, thank you for that!

Next, day three