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[never2old]

Day 2

After lots of hard negotiations, we agreed to meet for breakfast at 07:30 (I wanted 7:00, they wanted a lot later  :roll: ). Of course when my husband and I got there, we were the only ones there...



Within a few minutes of arriving the place filled up, but although all the tables seemed taken, it didn't feel particularly busy... Maybe it's because the place is relatively small, I don't know. But the breakfast buffet was very good: eggs, sausages, cereal, croissants... And the juice!! Real, fresh orange juice!! Delicious! Just for that juice, I only want to stay in the NYH (or DLH, if we can) from now on.

I have to say, it was my first stay in the NHY, and I loved it. It felt a lot quieter/smaller than the NPB or SQL, the room was nice and big, the hotel looked beatiful... and the juice they had for breakfast was delicious   I will definitely be going back. And now I really want to try the Empire State Club....

Anyway, back to the report.

People came down for breakfast slowly (I could have killed them, they were so slow  :evil: ). My brother in law and his family were leaving later that day (kids had school, missing 2 days was a bit too much), so they decided to stay and check out, and meet us later, while we took the children with us.

Finally, and getting very close to 09:00 ( :shock:  honesly!! EMH anyone???) we finally were on our way! Monday was a lovely, sunny day, and today I was taking my good camera (and not the compact one)

Morning in Lake Disney






One of my favourite sites in the world... Approaching DLH and the magic behind it...


Subtle decorations...




First destination of the morning: Buzz Lightyear. So we made our way to Discoveryland.

In the morning light, even those decorations cannot make the Castle look anything other than magical...




To infinity, and beyond!


We had a lot of fun in Buzz this morning. I went in with Zara, who managed to hit the hidden target in Zurg and came out with 57,000 points, and I managed a reasonable 220,000.

After Buzz, the grown ups (and Sam) wanted to go on Space Mountain, so we decided to split up, I would take Zara to Peter Pan (with IASW, it was her favourite ride), and we would meet later in Main Street.

Although the park felt busy (it was 09:30 by now) the queues were again small, and Peter Pan only had 10 minutes.



One small shock there, though, in the line inside, there were plenty of writings in the wall  :evil:  (in the fence that separates the fast pass line from the normal line, and in the wall). They were all dated after September 09, so I don't know if it was only then that someone started it and all the idiots followed, or if they clean them regularly. I had never noticed writings before (but then again I don't usually spend much time in the queue line). But it was rather upsetting. And some of them were quite rude! They also seemed a very international mix, because I saw writing in French, English, German and Spanish. Very upsetting  :cry:  Show some respect, people!

The ride itself was perfect and beautiful, of course, it's wonderful to see they've slowed it down a bit so that you can really enjoy it...

After failing to get the sword out...



.. Zara and I went back to Main Street, to meet up with the others, and wait for my brother in law who'd called to say they were almost there.

The almost turned out to be 10 minutes (they got lost, apparently  :wink: ) so I had plenty of time to take some pictures of the Halloween decorations













As you can see, other than the pumpkin men here and there on the street, the Main Street buildings themselves were orange-free: and looking good!









Eventually everyone showed up. It was now after 10:00, so we made our move to WDS...

Day 2 continues soon!

[never2old]

After a quick morning in DLP, we headed to WDS.

First stop: fastpasses for Tower of Terror



After that we split up, with my sister in law taking the kids to Stitch Live, and the rest of us going for not one but two goes on RnRC (there was no queue!! we had to, really!!) I have to say, before this trip I had only been 3x on RnRC, it was the one ride that really scared me, but nothing like going on it again and again and again to get over it... Plus since the soundtrack changes, you get different a different experience every time! Now I confess, it's one of my favourite rides!

After that it was time for our FP in TOT; this time my husband took the kids, while the rest of us dared to drop in.... I was the only one in the group who'd done it before, and everyone else was... well, terrified really! It really is a unique ride. But everyone did enjoy it, which is the main thing!

We met up with my husband in the Flying Carpets (they'd done Cars with no line at all, Carpets was the same)







Of course, since the ride lasts about 5 seconds, no wonder it has no line  :roll: ....

Crush was always either closed, or with lines of 40 minutes, so we didn't even try it.





After that it was Armaggedon (I won't miss that one much if and when it closes....), and then we went to get our places for...



It's a beautiful set, with lots of details to discover, I must say... With a good lens on a camera, you find lots of things!

There's the hidden Mickey in the bell, of course



or the one in the shop window...



and the beautiful buildings in the set:




I loved the cheese sop, Le Piege a Souris (the Mousetrap), it had plenty of cheeses in its window!






A few minutes before the show started, a bike came out to warm the crowd...



Then on with the show!





The backwards jump



The captive audience...


Herbie!


More jumps...


This guy was new from last time... Not sure anyone was paying any attention to him,, though... I only noticed him and his van halway into the scene!






The big finale


Continues soon!

[never2old]

The stunt show was great. I hadn't seen it in a while. Although maybe next time, wait for the summer... By the time we came out, we were freezing!!! Sitting down for so long, in the shade, not warm!!

It was almost time for my brother in law and co. to leave, so we only had time for one last ride...

The Studio Tram Tour!









When we did it during the Disco night, they seemed to have changed the video commentary to fit better with the ride: the costumes bit for example was out. But this time it was back on... Plus the sound quality wasn't too good, you could barely hear them, so it really made no sense. Please replace that by a live CM, or a new video, or just take people to Catastrophe Canyon which is the only interesting bit, really.

After that, it was almost time to say our goodbyes to half of us... We had a quick lunch in McDonalds, then went back to the hotel to say goodbye.



We were all a bit sad to see them go (Sam was looking VERY upset to be leaving   ), but they had a really good time (or so they tell me), and hopefully we can go back all together soon...

The rest of us (our neighbours and us) were staying for another night, though, so after a quick rest, it was back to WDS.

The line in TOT was 20 minutes (too much for us  :wink: ) and they'd closed the fastpass machines, so we decided to try it a bit later. First we hello to Goofy



then went back (yes of course) to RnRC, where again line was non existent.

It was almost closing time for WDS, so after one more go on TOT (where lines were now for 10 minutes  / ), and feeling rather shaken and with sore throats from all those thrills and screams, we headed towards DLP.

Beautiful afternoon in Paris


Christmas comes early here...


Back in DLP



With only one hour to go before the park closed, we kept it simple.... Straight to Frontierland, fastpasses for BTM









then straight to Indiana Jones. It was almost 18:00 (Indy closed early of course), but we still managed to go in.



As I said, ride is too short to be good.

Then it was time for our fastpasses in BTM (which after Indiana Jones felt wonderfully long), and after that, guess where?? Space Mountain of course!

After this very scientific, comparative approach to Disney rollercoasters (and feeling rather shaken not stirred, I confess), it was 19:00. Which meant... Party Time!

Last part of Day 2 coming soon!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Great updates to your report with great photos, but wait ... now you forgot about the part where we met without knowing it too ;-)

I agree with you on the Tram Tour: the video seemed out of place, the sound was almost non-existant and with the new route it is even more obvious that Catastrophe Canyon is the only thing to keep this attraction a live as a must-do thing.

[never2old]

Personally I quite enjoy the Party Time show, so I really wanted to see the Halloween version. I have to say, having the villains at the end didn't add much for me, though I did think Cruella was particularly funny... Just look at her face in the pictures!

Plus it was nice to see the show at the end of the day, there's was a beautiful light, maybe not so great for pictures, but definitely beautiful to see "live"....

Here are some of the pictures!

There's no smoke without a mouse...






































Now time for the Villains...

G







Someone's having a GREAT time....  :lol:










And time to leave...


We got back to the hotel, rested (ie the girls rested while the guys had a drink or two in the bar), then went out for dinner at The Steakhouse, which was yummy as always, before going back and collapsing in our rooms...

Day 3 to follow!

[Aveen2008]

Hey

aw day 2 was fantastic! Sad for the kids especially that they had to leave But I am glad they had a great time!  

I have to say even though it's a bit early for christmas decorations I like those new snowglobe type ones outside the frontlot store in the studios, they look nice!  

I completely love your photos from Mickey's magical party, the light that even looked beautiful! I love the quality of the pictures they are just brilliant!!

Can't wait to hear about day 3    

[Annet]

I also love your pictures from It's Party Time, they're amazing!
Hope to get just as beautifull pictures myself next week

[never2old]

Thank you very much for all your comments  

I still have to go through the day 3 pictures and upload them to Picasa, I hope to have the time tonight...

[dagobert]

Your pictures are great!!!! Looking forward to day 3.

[The Butlin Boy]

Fantastic report so far N2O, I've really enjoyed reading it and seeing all of your great photos. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it too, and I'm glad you all had a great time

[Epcot_Boy]

This is FUN /  /

[never2old]

Finally!

Day 3

After negotiating with our friends again, we agreed to meet up for breakfast at 08:30. I was not pleased at all, to be honest. This was our last day, I really wanted to make the most of it, and wasting most of the EMH for a bit more sleep wasn't my idea of making the most of it... But we had to compromise, and I didn't stay mad too long...

So after another delicious breakfast (and a few glasses of that deliciously fresh orange juice), we checked out, took our bags to the car, and we were finally on our way!



(does this look familiar Nicolai  :wink: )






It was a really beautiful morning!

The lazy people who didn't want to have breakfast at 07:00...


Of course by the time we made it to the park it was close to 09:30  :evil: . We started with Buzz, then it was time for Space Mountain, where although they were advertising 10 minutes, we ended up waiting closer to 25  :evil:  But it was the longest queue we did in the 3 days, so I won't complain too much...



After that we had a final go on Buzz (where the 20 minutes they advertised turned out to be 5, so the balance was restored  :wink: ). Best ride ever! I had an amazing score of 642,500  /  (ok it may have been partially linked to the fact that the ride stopped for some time when I was facing the second Zurg, and I kept hitting the nice target behind him again and again and again  :wink: )

The four of us



We then moved to Frontierland...

My husband and I


First some fastpasses for BTM; this time I took a picture of the new machines; on the right side you swipe your normal tickets, on the left side there's a scanner for the tickets you print at home...



The best thing to do while one waits for the BTM fastpasses is of course to head to Phantom Manor... And there are lots of photo opportunities on the way!


















Just outside PM we saw Chip & Dale. Chip tried my Minnie ears on...



but had to give up because they were too small for him. And they fit me perfectly!  :wink:



As has been mentioned in other reports, on Tuesday the PM was not at its best... We stopped for a bit at the beginning, and then there were a few effects not working or things missing (the dog?? where is the dog??) Definitely not the way I want to remember it...



Day 3 continues soon!

[never2old]

After that rather dissapointing ride on PM, it was time for our fastpasses in BTM. I've said it before, and I'll say it many times again, that is one brilliant ride!! Fun, fun, fun. Do you know that it was my first rollercoaster ever? I was 8 when my family went to WDW. I remember sitting in the front of the train, with my dad and my little brother, and my dad suddenly said: "look, there is no driver!" After that it started going fast up and down... I was terrified  :lol:  It took me years to have the courage to go on another rollercoaster again! Which by then was the Paris version, of course. My sister forced me to go with her, and I loved it so much we did it 3 times in a row. It was the good old days when the park was empty and there were no queues at all, I remember running all the way to the boarding platform...

Anyway, I totally digress. BTM was great  

Since we still hadn't don the train around the park, we decided to give the Frontierland station a go. So we made our way there (and yes, very slowly, because I had pictures to take...

































The Halloween decorations  :pumpkin:  are perfect in Frontierland... Plus around Cottonwood Creek they kept playing the Nightmare Before Christmas  :jack:  music. which is one of my favourite soundtracks...

Continues soon!

[never2old]

After waiting about 10 minutes in the Frontierland station, we boarded our train









We decided to go all the way around the park, and to come back to Frontierland. First stop: Fantasyland





Le Pays des Contes des Fees and Casey Jr were closed for maintenance work...

Ever wondered how deep the water is in Le Pays de Contes de Fees?
[spoiler:90bqz6mv][/spoiler:90bqz6mv]


Next stop: Discoveryland - although the audio system in the train was announcing our arrival into Fantasyland (again  :roll: ). First time I've seen them getting it wrong!



And after a brief stop in Main Street, back to Frontierland... I have to say, coming out of the tunnel with the Grand Canyon scene, into Frontierland, it's my favourite bit of the journey



As agreed we got off again in Frontierland, and decided to forget about lunch in the Blue Lagoon    (which we had booked for later, but since the park was nice and quiet everyone else preferred to get more rides done) and went instead for a quick lunch in Cottonwood Creek.









In all these years I don't think I'd ever eated in the Cookout Barbecue, which is a shame! The barbecue sauce they got in there is really delicious! And I have to say, I couldn't finish my menu, it was so big...

Feeling better after a nice (and quick) lunch, headed towards the Studios. On the way we run into Sally, who was being, well, Sally  :wink: wondering around and looking surprised and amazed by everything. She was beautiful!



And then Jack came for her



More Frontierland pictures...











Eventually they managed to drag me out of Frontierland, through the Liberty Arcade...





all the way out to the Disneyland Hotel...



and out of Disneyland, into WDS.

Feeling it was too soon after lunch to do anything too active, we went first to Cinemagique, our friends had never been on it before so it was a must, really. And they really enjoyed it. It's a beautiful little movie. I wish they sold the soundtrack somewhere, I love the music!

Then it was time for one last go on RnRC (brilliant as always, and no queue as always   ), but when we tried to follow with ToT, we found out they were closing the gate. Some people had left the queue, but there were still plenty inside the hotel reception, but none of the lifts seem to be working, and they wouldn't let anyone in    

So we had to give up on one last go on it, and instead went back to Disneyland, for one last  go on the Space Mountain. Which maybe was one last go too many, because for some reason it seemed to go faster than usual, or at least at the end the brakes were harder than ever, it was rather violent  :shock: ... Still, overall the ride was a lot of fun, and not a bad way to end the trip.

Because by now yes, the end was near  :cry:  We were all working the next day, so we had to get back home in time to rest a little bit...

So we had one last coffee (and a chocolate cake.... hmmmmmmm) in the Cable Car Bake Shop, and said goodbye to the magic...

Just before leaving, I noticed these:



These were not here the day before... Christmas is coming to Main Street!



But as I said, it was time to go.... So bye bye Castle!



(and bye bye Party Time... From Town Square, you cannot hear the music from Party Time at all!)

And for some reason, bye bye yellow cab outside NYH, it was there when we arrived, but not when we left!



As soon as my husband started driving I fell asleep (as usual), and pretty much woke up when we were almost back home...

It was a really fun trip, it was great to be able to do so many rides with no queues at all, a real treat! Of course I would have liked to go a few more times on Peter Pan, IASW (only did it once!!!), POTC or PM, but we had to things everyone wanted to do... And if it means a few extra goes on SM or RNRC, I won't be complaining too much!

Hope you enjoyed the report, as usual it ended up being a lot longer than I intended... But it's a way of re-living the magic, and part of me didn't want it to end!

[andischatz]

Absolutely fantastic trip report, thanks!  /

It was a fun read and your pictures are amazing. Makes me really look forward to my Xmas trip (although my average waiting times will be rather different to yours I fear). I'm glad you had such a good time.

I noticed what you said about the "good old times" with short waiting times and empty queues. I fondly remember those too, but I also remember that DLP was very much struggling financially back then, so I'm actually quite happy for the parks to be more crowded these days - even if that does mean longer waiting times.

But again, thanks for your report, you're very lucky to have friends and family who share the Disney spirit (even if they're not prepared to get up early for it)  :lol: