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[luke85]

Had such an amazing time, and thought I'd share some tales and pics with you all! Weather could have been better on some of the days, the rain was pretty bad towards the end of the week however if I'd had proper shoes I wouldn't have minded so much. I took silly canvas shoes with me, which basically acted like sponges, giving me a nice soggy surface to walk on all week! They also made my feet ache like crazy, so for most of the week I was hobbling around, but I didn't mind too much, after all I was in DLP after all  

Now my feet are slowly recovering, which is a good thing as I'm doing a 10K for charity next Sunday! Needless to say the shoes are now in the bin!  /

Day 1
Lunch: Cowboy Cookout Barbecue
Dinner: Bella Notte
Arrived at the resort and headed straight for the Hotel Santa Fe. Checked in, dropped off our stuff in the room, and headed for Disneyland Park.


Was really pleased to see the Mark Twain on the Rivers of the Far West. I've never seen it out on the river during any of my visits, only the Molly Brown.


We managed to stay in the park til closing, and although we were really tired, it was great to see the park lit up at night. It wasn't completely dark, but Main Street still looked beautiful.









Day 2
Lunch: Toad Hall
Dinner: King Ludwig's
Started the day by walking along the Rio Grande, and took a few photos!

Evidence of 'Euro Disney' days!

Didn't get a chance to ride on PanoraMagique as there was risks of thunderstorms on the days we tried It still looked great though.

Managed to catch Tiana and Naveen on the way to their meet and greet.


The Caterpillar hasn't looked this good in years, I was very happy!

This is the first of many pictures that I took of various lights and lamps around the park, this kind of thing really interests me!


Some great detail in Cable Car Bake Company on Main Street

Rode on the Mark Twain for the first time ever and took some pics

Sadly the Keelboats weren't running during our stay, but they still looked great as we passed them on the MT

Old Joe was looking in great condition!

Finally managed to get some pics of the sunken tombstone for myself!


Love this shot of Phantom Manor, managed to get some smoke from the MT, it looks pretty eerie! I thought the effects looked great inside PM, the seance room in particular.

Here come the lamps...!








Day 3
Lunch: Plaza Gardens
Dinner: Market House Deli

Thought I'd take some pics inside Plaza Gardens as I'd never been there before. I was blown away by the interior, it was so beautiful. I'll warn you now, there's more lamps!









Rode the Disneyland Railroad, and found the only place I've ever seen Disneyland Park referred to as the Magic Kingdom


Got some pics inside Boardwalk Candy Palace

More great detail!

Took some pics of the ticket booths underneath Disneyland Hotel, they really are exquisite




Day 4
Lunch: Au Chalet de la Marionette
Dinner: La Grange (Billy Bob's buffet)
Managed to catch the Sleeping Beauty show behind the castle, we enjoyed it and there seemed to be quite a few people watching it too



I love this sign

Another lamp! This time in Au Chalet de le Marionette


Day 5
Lunch: Fuente del Oro
Dinner: McDonalds (only because we were running out of time and had to get back to the hotel!)
Took some final pics at our hotel before heading off to the parks. I didn't know this was included on the mural outside Hotel Santa Fe


Got to ride in the Paddy Wagon, a first for both me and my boyfriend!

Now, something exciting happened on our last day. We broke down on Big Thunder Mountain It had been playing up all week, and we had queued twice only to leave after the ride broke down due to technical difficulties. It broke down as we were travelling up the final lift hill, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the picture I took, so I'll put it in spoilers and Kristof or Anthony can delete it if they need to.
[spoiler:hbus28ee][/spoiler:hbus28ee]
The lights inside the mountain were turned on and the effects were turned off, then once the ride was up and running again (after about a 15 minute wait) we rode all the way back to the unload with the lights on in the tunnel under the river, it was so cool! We also got a FastPass to use at any time we liked.

We took a LOT more photos than what I've posted here, like Stars 'n' Cars, and Showtime Spectacular, which we both enjoyed. We did take pics of WDS, but I just realised I didn't actually post any on here! Guess I didn't think they were interesting enough...

The one thing I noticed about the food was that it has greatly improved since my last visit. The portion sizes were HUGE! I certainly don't remember the counter service meals being that big in the past. I particularly liked the Fish & Chips from Toad Hall (yummy) and the Chilli Con Carne from Fuente del Oro.

All in all we had a great time, the weather could have been nicer, but we didn't let that spoil our holiday

[dagobert]

Thanks for the great pictures, luke85. I've read you have been to Plaza Gardens. Now I have the same question for this restaurant like I had for La Grange: Is it suitable for vegeterians? The only buffet restaurant we have been is Agrabah Cafe and it is our favorite restaurant, because it offers a lot for veggies.

You said that the food has improved since your last visit. When have you been the last time, because in February we aere a little bit disappointed. We think that it was better in 2008 and back then Disney offered more dishes for vegeterians. Maybe that's just because we only look out for vegeterian options.

What do you say about maintenance of the parks? What about the condition of the hotel and the attractions?

[luke85]

Yes, Plaza Gardens also has lots of Vegetarian options.

The last time I went was in October 2008, and I just remember there being burgers in all of the counter service restaurants, and places like Toad Hall weren't even open. So to me, the food, and the options as to where you can go to eat it, has improved a lot.

I thought the maintenance of the parks was much better than in 2008, Pirates of the Caribbean had an effect which I'd never seen before, where the swinging pirate is, there was smoke billowing up from behind the wall, it was so cool! Lots of "oohs" and "aahs" from the boats haha! Although a couple of the pirates were missing, like the pirate before the swinging one with the dagger in his mouth. All the Fantasyland dark rides looked great, although Peter Pan's arm had a huge tear in it when he's fighting Hook. The witch behind the door in Snow White has been fixed, I've not seen this effect work in years! Pinocchio looked great too.

Loads of extra effects on BTM, like the waterfall at the top of the first lift hill, which we'd never seen before. There were maintenance crews doing various paint jobs, like the railings in Fantasia Gardens. The only land which had areas of noticeable decay was Adventureland That poor pirate ship!

Hadn't been on Space Mountain since 2006, as it was down for a refurb in 2008, the effects looked so good! Much better than I had remembered them being in 2006. Although one particular ride was SO rough, it really hurt my shoulder and my right ear as I got bashed around a bit!

Forgot to post some pics of some merchandise I bought! Olly and I loved the Hong Kong designs so I decided to get a couple of things for myself

Love this pen, I got my sister the Minnie version!


Also got this T-shirt


We both liked all of the New Generation Merchandise and I got myself another pen with the logo on, but it's still in my suitcase somewhere!

[Aveen2008]

Hey Luke,

Great pictures and sounds like a brilliant holiday (minus the shoes ) lol!

Luv your purchases as well! I think the HK characters are cute

thanks for sharing, it makes me miss it even more!

Aveen xxx

[montaguewarner]

Your Pictures are amazing! Thank you so much.
Any chance of more pictures of WDS perhaps?
Also since you photographed it, Are the lamp posts around Lake Disney the only remnants of Euro Disney logo's now? I couldnt find any else on my last visit (minus EDRR of course)

[luke85]

I think there may be some more lamp posts in the area between Disney Village, WDS and Disneyland, but I forgot to look this year.

I've just looked through my photos, and aside from the pics we took of Stars 'n' Cars, only 4 others pictures were taken in WDS. 4 out of 458 photos! We took a lot more in 2008 when TOT, and Toon Studios was "new" to us. There's just so much more the photograph in Disneyland Park, for example, lamps and light fixtures haha!

Here are a few pics of the Stars 'n' Cars parade...

[montaguewarner]

Thanks!! Is that Greenery i see in WDS?? SHOCKING

[toritinker]

thanks for a great trip report!!!
I love the pics from the stars and cars parade!!!
x

[norhel]

Great report and pics!
Doesn't sounds fun with BTM.
About the Magic Kingdom sign you took a picture of, where exactly is the sign?

[bigrossco]

great reports and pics

I would so love to be on a ride when it breaks down, the closest to that was when I was on PM it the ride kept starting and stopping and the not all the effects seemed to of been moving, but have never had to get an evac from a ride

[luke85]

Great report and pics!
Doesn't sounds fun with BTM.
About the Magic Kingdom sign you took a picture of, where exactly is the sign?

I was quite pleased when BTM broke down, it was very safe, plus I was so excited to see it with the lights on!

You can see the Magic Kingdom sign on your way out of the Main Street Railroad station. There's 2, one on the left hand exit, and another on the right side, so you can't miss it

[luke85]

great reports and pics

I would so love to be on a ride when it breaks down, the closest to that was when I was on PM it the ride kept starting and stopping and the not all the effects seemed to of been moving, but have never had to get an evac from a ride

I was actually hoping for an evacuation so we could walk under the river, but they got the ride started up again. We were chatting to some people behind us, some Grandparents and their grand-daughters. The Grandma was disabled and the Cast Member said that if they had to evacuate, some Fireman would come and get her. She told the CM that they better be dishy! She was really fun, but I don't think the CM knew what she meant, after all "dishy" is quite a British term!

I'm not sure exactly what the problem was with BTM, but it seemed to have a lot of problems last week.

[never2old]

Thank you for those pictures and great report!!

We were there from the 9th to the 11th, and got the worst of the weather... Wednesday particularly, it was awful!!

I love all your pictures of the lamps! And I had never noticed that Pinocchio sign, where is it??

Again, beautiful pictures, thank you!!

By the way, did you see Rafa Nadal? He was there on the Monday (7th) after winning in Roland Garros (I'm a huge fan, I was really annoyed we missed him by a couple of days!!)

[luke85]

Glad you like our pics never2old!

There are two "Pinocchio" lamps (I love them!), and they're both situated on the outer facade between the entrance of Le Voyages de Pinocchio, and the exit.

I may have seen Nadal, but to be honest, I wouldn't know what he looks like hehe

[never2old]

I may have seen Nadal, but to be honest, I wouldn't know what he looks like hehe

He would have been the one surrounded and being followed by half of Spain, judging from the videos and pictures I've seen...  

And now I have to go back and see those lamps for myself... See? After all these years and all these visits, there are still plenty of things to discover... That's what I love about Disneyland