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Day 2 - part 1
This is the morning report, gives you the long and the short...


The clock said 7.00 am and my mum woke me - it is never a problem to wake up early when you are in Disneyland! After a quick shower and preparation of the camera we were ready to leave the hotel 7.45 am. We headed to Disneyland Park where we would get our breakfast in Plaza Gardens at 8.15 am, but first I took some morning pictures around Lake Disney.







We arrived at the security check at 7.55 and we were app. 20 people waiting for them to open. Some of the very impatient couldn't stand to watch the cast members entering the park before 8, so they kept asking the security people why they were letting them in, when we had to wait - D'oh, how stupid can you be?

At 8.00 am sharp the security check was opened and we were asked to come forward - as always the security check was very quick and smooth and of course my park ticket didn't work this morning either. The CM was just opposite the CM on Sunday - it took her almost 3 minutes to type in my code, but I finally got through and contrary to Sunday I was given a special fastpass ticket so I could get fast passes without problems - this was very nice

The breakfast at Plaza Gardens was just like the hotel breakfast (croissants, pain au chocolaits, yoghurts, etc.), which is really nice - I love this breakfast and it certainly beats most hotel breakfast I have tried. The atmosphere of this restaurant just gave a perfect morning the finishing touch - we had never been in here before so the beautiful themening and paintings really impressed us. What a nice start to the day and I think it is great idea that they give people the opportunity to get their breakfast here as I think it gets more people in during EMH too!







After breakfast we went for our favorite EMH attraction - Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. I always need a couple of ride-throughs to get in form and my mum had until this trip not concentrated that much on her score - that would change though! The waiting time was just 5 minutes - YES! Now for the first "problem" with my height - when I went through the counter just before entering the indoor queue the bar was caught between my legs and I was stuck for some seconds :lol: the CM and I had a big laugh out of this, but the girl behind me seemed a bit scared and kept staring at me for the entire time in the waiting area I got 102.200 and my mum got app. 5.000 so we decided for another ride straight after this! It was the same CM and he just looked at me and said with a cheeky grin: "Be careful this time". I didn't get stuck this time and I improved my score a bit (124.400). After this ride-through the waiting time was 20 minutes and we decided to move along to absorb the Discoveryland atmosphere, although we weren't going to try any more attractions here.



I love the atmosphere of Discoveryland even though I am not going on many of the rides, so we strolled around the land going on the right side of Space Mountain, where we went in to take a look at the station and a great view of the Columbiad Cannon. After this we went to check the very back of Discoveryland amazed by the sight of the open doors leading to Pizza Planet - this area had been closed off on our last 3-4 visits and the area did seem very faded and "hidden" - I find it hard to believe that many people find this spot during opening hours... When heading back towards Hyperion we saw the "scene" for "It's Dance Time..." and I was very happy that this didn't show during our trip - the floor looked really tacky and with the lack of audience activity we experienced with "It's Party Time" I could imagine how akward "It's Dance Time..." could be.









With the clock saying 9.30 am we headed towards Sleeping Beauty Castle where I wanted to take some more pictures in the Gallery:















The Castle is not made for tall people, but I just fitted in the door



After strolling around Fantasyland, learning the staggering opening hours for the labyrinth (11am-3pm) we slowly headed towards Walt Disney Studios Park.

Day 2 to be continued...

[MizzRabbit]

Fantastic report so far. And LOL, Gaston sooo looks like Anders Fogh. He must be his evil twin haha. Loved the night photography. I wish I had the patience to bring a tripod. I'd have no idea where to put it and what to do with it. Well, very enjoyable report. Glæder mig til næste del!

EDIT: Loved the second part as well. The last photo was really fun. And great you got to experience Plaza Gardens. Hope you had dinner there too. It's amazing and I go there on every single trip.

[DLP-Photos.com]

Fantastic report so far. And LOL, Gaston sooo looks like Anders Fogh. He must be his evil twin haha. Loved the night photography. I wish I had the patience to bring a tripod. I'd have no idea where to put it and what to do with it. Well, very enjoyable report. Glæder mig til næste del!

Don't know who would be the most evil in that family

I only brought the tripod to the parks on Sunday evening - it was in the hotel on the rest of the holiday. It was not very handy to walk around with and would have been a problem during a whole day - espcecially on attractions

[never2old]

You missed the bit where you completely ignored me and didn't say hi  :wink:  

Great start to your second day! And another great set of pictures - I love the ones in the Castle, and you've really captured Discoveryland in all its glory!!

The last picture there is brilliant  :lol: !

[DLP-Photos.com]

Day 2 - part 2
"Excuse me, waiter - there is a rat at my table!" - "Yes, that is your head chef, sir."

We left Disneyland Park and entered Walt Disney Studios Park 10 minutes past 10 - it wasn't that crowded yet. First thing I have to say: I love this park, but I have to admit that you simply don't get absorbed into the magic in the same way as you do in Disneyland Park - in my opinion the park is still too cold, open and "unfinished" - hopefully the positive development from lately will continue with the addition of Toy Story Playland (I'm still optimistic, although the attractions could be way better) and especially the long awaited Ratatouille E-Ticket Dark Ride!







My mum and I weren't going on that many attractions with Animagique, Cinémagique, Studio Tram Tour and Flying Carpets on our plans from the beginning. We had planned to eat at Restaurant des Stars and finish our day by watching Disneys Stars'n'Cars. This meant that we had time enough to enjoy the atmosphere around especially Toon Studio and Hollywood Boulevard. When we entered the park the Tram Tour was closed so we started wandering around just to get the feeling and take some photos.



We went into the Art of Animation store, where I would check their selection of WDCC figurines and we continued into the Art of Disney Animation post show area, where we especially enjoyed the Character Concepts display. Thinking about it I actually do not know why we didn't go on the entire attraction - I actually use to love it, but perhaps we thought that nothing new had happened in there. We continued into Toon Studio...



... and (of course) Crush' Coaster was temporarily closed due to technical issues. This meant that Toon Studio was almost deserted and although both me and my mum actually wanted to try Cars we ended up agreeing that I probably wouldn't fit into the small vehicles with my long legs and the attraction might be a bit too much kids-orientated for two adults to go on it alone. (See this is imo a sign of the lack of "magic" in WDS - in DP you do not think about the fact that you are an adult, you are part of the magic where everybody is on the same level no matter age. I don't get this feeling quite as strong, when I am in WDS).





But we like Toon Studio although we weren't trying any of the attractions. After this we took the back way past the Toy Story Playland Construction Site...



... and ended up by Studio Tram Tour. We saw a train arriving with guests, so we thought that it was now open, but at the entrance 4 (!!) CMs were telling us that they still weren't open. Hmmm, then we went for a nice walk in the other direction towards ToT and Backlot. Going by Tower of Terror we both really wished that we dared trying this attraction as it seems to be a true imagineering gem - and that is just from the outside. But neither of us dared trying in the end, so we just enjoyed the looks of it and the great shop, which contrary to almost every other shop in the resort still is very exclusive in its range of merchandise - however, I do not understand what Jack Skellington has to do with Tower of Terror?



Hereafter we went in to explore the new Blockbuster Café - what a mess! Backlot Express wasn't that great either, but at least it had the true studio atmosphere with all the props. This is really "blockbuster" - trying to make money out of cheap sets and some really bad prop replicas. Seriously who believes that the Pirates props are real - most of them don't even look that much like the things from the movie! Very disappointing and definetely not the way to go for Disney. By the way, me and my mum were there for 5 minutes and no one else came in there during this, so it doesn't even drag people in as you would think the new theme was meant to do. The only positive thing was the beautiful light in the Pirates room, although I would personally hate to eat in this light



Now the final negative thing in this report (I promise) - the Armageddon billboard. This is so faded that you cannot believe it. Now that the rumours about the replacement of this attraction has disappeared a bit I think they should use a week or so to give this facade a immersive refurbishment so the background could be black again. Take a look:



Studio Tram Tour had now opened so we strolled down Hollywood Boulevard...





... when Cruella suddenly paid the boulevard a glamorous visit in her huge car. It was great to see how her arrival lit up the life around her with people wanting autographs and photos with the glamorous villain. Also nice to have these little extra character Meet'n'Greet in places where you don't ahve to queue for an hour or so to meet the characters - Thumbs Up!

Now Studio Tram Tour Behind the Magic. I always love going on this, but it is mainly(only) because of Catastrophe Canyon, which always impresses me. The re-routing seemed very rough and made the ride pretty dull as you went by the exact same spot with the rather boring props from Pearl Habour, Dinosaur and Dinotopia two times within 5 minutes. Perhaps they should have closed the attraction for a couple of months in order to produce a more permanent solution with new props or so? Catastrophe Canyon was impressive as always and it is always great fun to see people who ride the attraciton for the first time getting shocked, excited and amazed by the great effects.







I was sorry that they have had to drop the costuming building as it use to lighten up the most boring part of the route, which got even more boring without this and it did seem a bit odd, when Jeremy Irons all of a sudden asked for his costume in the movie - completely out of context when it is not part of the route! After this it is the Reign of Fire set, which always amazes me with its great resemblance with London, but it is just such an anti-climax when the only effect is some fire from below But all in all still an enjoyable attraction and certainly a must-see everytime.



After this we went to Animagique, which we really love - it is just so sweet and has a great soundtrack. We especially love the children voices making the pre-show announcements - they are so cute :lol:... In here I had a very funny and good experience with a fellow guest. Over the first 1.5 day we had become a bit tired with mainly southern European parents who had treated their kids very badly, jumped in the queues and shown lack of respect towards the CMs (especially during the parade on Sunday), but here I sat next to a very nice Spanish man and we had a little chat before the show. He had actually visited my home town of Aalborg once with his wife, so we talked a bit about Aalborg and the Danish language and we after the show we wished each other a nice stay. What a great experience and it certainly is a small world after all



After Animagique we ran into ToT Goofy outside Tower of Terror. What a nice character and he was very popular too. However, I didn't want a picture with him, when I hadn't been on the attraction itself.



After this it was time for a first timer for me and my mum: Restaurant des Stars and we were certainly not disappointed. The restaurant was very nice, the service was great, the food was very delicious, the range of food was impressive and of course the appearence by Remy himself was absolutely unforgettable. Remy was so great and the AA was very impressive and it was very hard to remove your eyes from him, when he was there. The restaurant wasn't that busy so he took good time to entertain small parts of the restaurant at a time - we went over to see him at another table in the middle, but after that he just came over to us to do a little photo posing in the far left corner of the restaurant. The only "negative" thing was the fact that a little sparrow had made its way inside the restaurant - but on the other hand, when some of the guests inside deliberately gives it bread you cannot blame the poor bird for its action


My mums plate of starters


My starters


My first plate of main courses


Mums first plate of main courses


My first plate of desserts


Mums first plate of desserts







After one plate of starters, two plates of main courses and two plates of desserts we were ready to leave the restaurant in order to catch Cinémagique before Disney's Stars'n'Cars. We both love Cinémagique which we think is a true masterpiece. However, last year my sister thought it was some of the most stupid and vulgar things she had seen and my father is of the same conviction The audience wasn't that big either - I don't know what, but they should really do something in order to get more people into this show - it is absolutely AMAZING!

After Cinémagique there was 25 minutes until Disneys Stars'n'Cars and they had roped off Place des Stars. We got a brilliant spot just outside Cinémagique right out to the route - wonderful. Next to us was a roped off area for handicapped guests, which was really nice - I like how the parks do everything to make a trip more magical if you are disabled in any way - Thumbs up! Opposite this area was a similar area, but without the sign for disabled guests. We wondered what the purpose of this area would be - nobody was allowed inside until a CM came with 4 children (no VIP passes, special papers or anything) and placed them inside the area. It seemed like they were related in a way, but surely this cannot be an area for CM relatives, could it? Nobody else was allowed inside, which resulted in a lot of sad kids unable to understand why these four children were allowed so close to the characters... Anybody know the deal about this area? I think it was loladelorean, who had noticed it too...



The show/parade itself was very lovely, the cars were beautiful and it was a great way to combine parade, show and Meet'n'Greet in one big happening, which surely was a hit by the audience too. It was to nice to see some other characters too - especially Mulan and Mushu who seems to be a bit forgotten in other places of the resort.







All my photos from Stars'n'Cars will be available in my soon-to-come Fotki Album.

After Stars'n'Cars we went for a quick ride on Flying Carpets, which was very enjoyable as always, although we cramped ourselves into one seat in order to help the CM fill the attraction. She didn't want to fill it that much and just had a good laugh with us

Last stop was the Walt Disney Studios Store to make some shopping. I had already bought 4 pins in the Pin Shop on Hollywood Boulevard, but in here I had seen a new numbered limited edition Stars'n'Cars pin, which I just had to own. It said that it was released on the 10th of October, but he CM told me that I was the first one to buy this pin in the store (and the park), as they had just received it a couple of hours earlier. Very nice detail, when you are collecting pins :mrgreen:

We waved goodbye to WDS and said hello to the Disneyland Park and Frontierland for BTM fast passes for the evening. This gave us some time to stroll around the park and during this time we went on Pirates, Snow White and Pinocchio one more time. Behind us in Snow White and Pinocchio was a boy with his family and this almost brought a tear to our eyes. This boy was very sick and had to be held all the time by his dad, but the boy and family just seemed to have the time of their lives and the CMs were great stopping the attraction and making sure everything was perfect before starting it again. It is true Disney magic to see such a troubled family having the time of their lives and it really made you think an extra time of your life - a very strong experience!

Here are some photos we took during our stroll around the park:









We came back to BTM for another very enjoyable ride on our favorite ride. After this we wanted to catch "It's Party Time ... With Mickey and Friends" on 6 pm - we wanted to catch the Villains' appearence on 7 pm, but with an 8 pm reservation at Café Mickey and the fact that we wanted to go to the hotel before, we decided to take the 6 pm show. Before this however we went for a walk in Aladdins Passage:









Now it was time for "It's Party Time .. With Mickey and Friends" - I enjoyed the show more than I had expected, but me and my mum agreed that they should have put a little less focus on the audience dance along part (isn't this what we have Stitch doing in Discoveryland?). It didn't quite work with the audience and was a High School Musical in our opinion :lol: However, the show was enjoyable, the music was pretty good and the amount of performers were very impressive.







We headed out of the park all ready for a nice evening in Disney Village with Café Mickey and a lot of shopping

Last Day 2 update coming soon...

[Aveen2008]

hehe another great installment! I have to say we also noticed the turnstiles at Buzz being really hard to get through, very narrow and low or something! I felt like an elephant sliding in sideways because I couldn't be bothered lifting my bags of purchases high in the air also! :oops:  :oops:  

[Aveen2008]

I have to say I agree with many of your comments about the studios, I don't find it has the magic of the park either there is something cold and empty about the park, as though it's just never been finished. On my last visit in september I really noticed it. I felt that its a park that needed a lot more done to it and that it was opened when it was never really finished or something.. (just my opinion).

I also went to restraunt des stars for the first time in sept and thought it was great too! =D>

Thanks for another great part to ur TR!

[Javey74]

A brilliant DLRP report start Nicolai, really interesting read with those all important and  well snapped photos..  =D>  =D>  =D>

I await your next instalment..  :wink:  

[CentralPlazaPerson]

Great report so far Nicolai!
I can see you're not one for thrill rides?  :wink:

[-breeno-]

Just read through everything you've wrote up so far.  Great two days so far Nicolai

I think that new rule about the fastpasses was introduced last year but i'm not 100% sure, i remember we noticed it too when my mum tried to fastpass RnRC for me and my dad and Tower or Terror at the same time.

The thing about the 4 children is very odd.  I'm trying to think myself why they were allowed in there :-k

Looking forward to the further installments

[DLP-Photos.com]

Great report so far Nicolai!
I can see you're not one for thrill rides?  :wink:

:lol: no, not the biggest thrill rides - I don't know why, it is just not me

[Gareth]

wow looks like an amazing trip and i love your photos there amazingly fantastic

[Annet]

I also agree on your opinion about WDS. It's a lovely park, but it doesn't have the same magical feeling you get in DLP.

It's too bad you didn't ride the ToT though, it's really great! I always feel sick and nervous everytime before I go on a thrill ride, but afterwards I always want to go again and again :lol:

[CentralPlazaPerson]

Great report so far Nicolai!
I can see you're not one for thrill rides?  :wink:

:lol: no, not the biggest thrill rides - I don't know why, it is just not me

 :lol: You should really try out Indiana Jones..It's not that bad..it only has one loop which is class when you go round it. :lol: Thrill rides or not I bet you're stay was still magicial anyway!

[dagobert]

Great trip report Nicolai!

Your pictures are very nice, especially the food pics. They make me hungry!!