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[dagobert]

Once again - thanks for the comments

Trip conclusion

So as you who has read the entire report would know, we had a magnificent and magical trip. In this last post before the more visual ones (Photo album and Trip Video) I would like to sum up the trip. The easiest way is a list - once again I will list positive things in green and negative things in red.

The negative stuff:

- Some of the older queue lines could use a refurbishment giving them an air condition system - especially Space Mountain! You can stand within the building for quite a while and when it is 35 degrees outside it is at least 40 inside and probably more. One evening (9-10 PM) it was so hot that people were leaving the queue and doors were opened everywhere. I know it probably isn't the easiest, but on the other hand it must be possible. Other queue lines with heat problems: BTM, Star Tours, Indy (FP) and some of the Fantasyland attractions (based on previous trips).

- People's behaviour during parades - this is hard for DLP to do anything about, but I struggle to understand how people think they can come to the parade 5 minutes before show time, almost tackling their way through the crowd making it to 1st/2nd row only to put their children up on their shoulders. This ruined my possibility to get my dream photos of the fireworks from Town Square (I was there for over an hour), but more important some of the kids at my position could not see one bit of the parade because of people arriving right before show time. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

- The price of merchandise - mainly on-ride photos. 20 € for 2 normal photos is a rip-off and don't get me started on 15 € for one. When I bought the BTM photo I asked what the cheapest option was and it was 15 €. That is crazy, I'm sorry to say.

- Cleaning of the toilets... I understand that it is extremely hard to keep the toilets clean in the park during the day. But in the morning? Sometimes all toilets looked like - well cr*p. That cannot be right - some of them were extremely dirty and disgusting later on.

The positive comments:

Where do I begin??

- The Marching Band - It was very nice to see them back in action. Especially in a summer with a lack of other entertainment. As said in the report they just give that extra magic that makes it even more Disney.

- The Enchanted Fireworks: I have to say, I enjoyed this more than I did Wishes on my latest summer trip. The timing and elegance were in top and even though I had just witnessed a 40.000 € fireworks display 3 days before going I was very impressed. A worthy end to your days of magic.

- The easyness of crossing Main Street U.S.A in the evening right up to the parade. CMs formed a crossroad by Casey's and Victoria's giving people like me and my friend an easy way from Frontierland to Discoveryland or vice versa without having to go through the crowd making people irritated.

- The possibility to ride Big Thunder Mountain right up to 11 PM - this gave us some moments of true magic watching the beautiful fireworks from the mountain while experiencing the ride when it is most funny.  :thumbs:

- The way they handled the Studios in the morning. A smart move to actually have 30 minutes of EMH for people to queue for and on Saturday also try Crush' Coaster. They know it will be very popular when the crowds are that big.

- The food variety... It surprised me to see that the only place (correct me if I am wrong) to get a cheeseburger in the Disneyland Park now was Café Hyperion. The only dish I saw multiple places was pizza (and Nuggets) - although everything is still fast food this actually gives you a possibility to get some variation during a 4 nights stay without having to spend hours in Disney Village.

- Many more, magical moments (e.g. the TOT Cast members)

That pretty much sums up the trip and my experience. Hope you enjoyed it and look out for the Photo Album and Trip Video.

As a final treat for now you are not going to miss out on my merchandise (I got a lot :lol:)

Two things are not photographed: my PSG shirt and my Tower of Terror: I survived shirt. The latter gave me a lot of attention walking around the parks wearing it.

Thanks for the conclusion.

Having air condition in Space Mountain would be great. That's what I like at WDW. Nearly all queues had AC

I can't agree with you on the food variety. I'm vegeterian and the choices for us were really bad in February, but maybe that has changed.

The photo souvenirs are really expensive, that's the reason why we only buy one per trip.

You are so right on the toilettes, but I think that's only a problem during the summer season, because in February nearly all toilettes were working and clean. Nothing to complain about. Unfortunately in Summer 2008 we experienced the same. Very bad show Disney!

The behavior of the people during parades is really bad, but that's happening at WDW, too.

What's your opinion on the merchandise that is offered at the moment. By the way you have bought some great stuff. Is it still cheap mechandise that's not worth the money? Are they still selling the same stuff in each shop? Did they increase the variety on pins, especially on attraction pins? Or are they still selling only a small variety and mainly Stitch and Princess pins?

I think Kristof said that Disney will improve the quality of the merchandise products, did you notice anything!

Thanks for answering my questions and for your great trip report and pictures. It was a pleasure to read it.

[stacey-claire]

Great trip report, gets me all excited for when i go lol, just in response to what you said about the rudeness of others at parades, i found the only way to stop them is to push them out of the way, i discovered this when i took my 8 year old brother back in march, and we sat on the curb for about an hour n half and when it came to like ten mins before the parade people were trying to push in front of us, i dont mind little kids standing in front of me, but when its fully grown adults i get a bit annoyed, i dont like been rude, im far too mild mannered for that, but i found this to be the only way to ensure my little brother could see xx :belle:

[toritinker]

great sum up!!
And I LOVED seeing what you bought in the shops hehe!!
x

[DLP-Photos.com]

Once again - thanks for the comments

Trip conclusion

So as you who has read the entire report would know, we had a magnificent and magical trip. In this last post before the more visual ones (Photo album and Trip Video) I would like to sum up the trip. The easiest way is a list - once again I will list positive things in green and negative things in red.

The negative stuff:

- Some of the older queue lines could use a refurbishment giving them an air condition system - especially Space Mountain! You can stand within the building for quite a while and when it is 35 degrees outside it is at least 40 inside and probably more. One evening (9-10 PM) it was so hot that people were leaving the queue and doors were opened everywhere. I know it probably isn't the easiest, but on the other hand it must be possible. Other queue lines with heat problems: BTM, Star Tours, Indy (FP) and some of the Fantasyland attractions (based on previous trips).

- People's behaviour during parades - this is hard for DLP to do anything about, but I struggle to understand how people think they can come to the parade 5 minutes before show time, almost tackling their way through the crowd making it to 1st/2nd row only to put their children up on their shoulders. This ruined my possibility to get my dream photos of the fireworks from Town Square (I was there for over an hour), but more important some of the kids at my position could not see one bit of the parade because of people arriving right before show time. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

- The price of merchandise - mainly on-ride photos. 20 € for 2 normal photos is a rip-off and don't get me started on 15 € for one. When I bought the BTM photo I asked what the cheapest option was and it was 15 €. That is crazy, I'm sorry to say.

- Cleaning of the toilets... I understand that it is extremely hard to keep the toilets clean in the park during the day. But in the morning? Sometimes all toilets looked like - well cr*p. That cannot be right - some of them were extremely dirty and disgusting later on.

The positive comments:

Where do I begin??

- The Marching Band - It was very nice to see them back in action. Especially in a summer with a lack of other entertainment. As said in the report they just give that extra magic that makes it even more Disney.

- The Enchanted Fireworks: I have to say, I enjoyed this more than I did Wishes on my latest summer trip. The timing and elegance were in top and even though I had just witnessed a 40.000 € fireworks display 3 days before going I was very impressed. A worthy end to your days of magic.

- The easyness of crossing Main Street U.S.A in the evening right up to the parade. CMs formed a crossroad by Casey's and Victoria's giving people like me and my friend an easy way from Frontierland to Discoveryland or vice versa without having to go through the crowd making people irritated.

- The possibility to ride Big Thunder Mountain right up to 11 PM - this gave us some moments of true magic watching the beautiful fireworks from the mountain while experiencing the ride when it is most funny.  :thumbs:

- The way they handled the Studios in the morning. A smart move to actually have 30 minutes of EMH for people to queue for and on Saturday also try Crush' Coaster. They know it will be very popular when the crowds are that big.

- The food variety... It surprised me to see that the only place (correct me if I am wrong) to get a cheeseburger in the Disneyland Park now was Café Hyperion. The only dish I saw multiple places was pizza (and Nuggets) - although everything is still fast food this actually gives you a possibility to get some variation during a 4 nights stay without having to spend hours in Disney Village.

- Many more, magical moments (e.g. the TOT Cast members)

That pretty much sums up the trip and my experience. Hope you enjoyed it and look out for the Photo Album and Trip Video.

As a final treat for now you are not going to miss out on my merchandise (I got a lot :lol:)

Two things are not photographed: my PSG shirt and my Tower of Terror: I survived shirt. The latter gave me a lot of attention walking around the parks wearing it.

Thanks for the conclusion.

Having air condition in Space Mountain would be great. That's what I like at WDW. Nearly all queues had AC

I can't agree with you on the food variety. I'm vegeterian and the choices for us were really bad in February, but maybe that has changed.

The photo souvenirs are really expensive, that's the reason why we only buy one per trip.

You are so right on the toilettes, but I think that's only a problem during the summer season, because in February nearly all toilettes were working and clean. Nothing to complain about. Unfortunately in Summer 2008 we experienced the same. Very bad show Disney!

The behavior of the people during parades is really bad, but that's happening at WDW, too.

What's your opinion on the merchandise that is offered at the moment. By the way you have bought some great stuff. Is it still cheap mechandise that's not worth the money? Are they still selling the same stuff in each shop? Did they increase the variety on pins, especially on attraction pins? Or are they still selling only a small variety and mainly Stitch and Princess pins?

I think Kristof said that Disney will improve the quality of the merchandise products, did you notice anything!

Thanks for answering my questions and for your great trip report and pictures. It was a pleasure to read it.

I guess the food variety still is bad for vegetarians - I am not so I didn't notice it, but thinking about you could only get saldads really and something in Fuente del Oro I think. This needs to be changed.

Well I did see some improvement on some merchandise - more DLP exclusives. E.g. the very creative and funny plushie I got for my future nephew. Unfortunately almost every (!) shop sells the same things still. The only shops that has exclusive merchandise is Star Traders, the one by Indiana Jones and the Tower of Terror shop (although this had fallen a lot in quality and exclusive products)... It was insane to see the amount of Toy Story merchandise...

Regarding the pins you can still only get the really big attractions and Stitch and Princesses are very much dominating. That being said, I really like the amount of Limited and Special Edition Pins they have around.

All in all I did not notice a huge step in the right direction, but maybe a small one...

Thanks for the comments everyone

[DisneyBud]

I loved your report! Thanks so much for all the detail you put in, was really nice to read about everything. The first time I rode TOT (this summer), Cedric was the CM loading us!!!!! He was incredible and really enhanced the experience, and while the ride is amazing, further times were just not quite as good as that first time. I can't wait until I see him again!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Hi everyone - thanks for the comments and as promised here is my Photo Album:

//http://gallery.me.com/nicolaika#100009

[PetiteSirene]

great report :thumbs:

I totally agree with the toilets, last trip I used the ones up by PM and there was loo roll all over the floor and thet stank of pee   its really not that hard to keep toilets clean!

[kelly.dylan]

The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

[DLP-Photos.com]

The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

This particular ornament was 8.95 € - I'll leave that for you to decide whether it is expensive or not It's actually pretty big.

[kelly.dylan]

The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

This particular ornament was 8.95 € - I'll leave that for you to decide whether it is expensive or not It's actually pretty big.

Really, thats really good, i was expecting it to be at least €15 :thumbs:
Thanks x

[bensmum]

Great trip report and wonderful photos as usual Nicolai. Love the look of that Christmas decoration. Thanks for posting.

[disneyrules]

Great trip report and excellent photos

[DLP-Photos.com]

Once again I have been unable to keep my promise of making a Trip Video within a couple of weeks from returning, but now it is almost ready and I hope to upload it in the evening following a couple of days' work!

Keep an eye on this topic in order to see it :-)

[DLP-Photos.com]

FINALLY - the Trip Video is here for your enjoyment:



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It looks as though the quality is lower on part 2, I am sorry about this

This part is mainly Fantillusion but the last 4:30 minutes are from Paris

Please share your opinion about the movie...

[brenjo]

Have not been on for a while.....fabulous report and excellent photos as one expects now from you!